Downside Up
by XHey Pretty BabyX
Summary: All Kiki Evans wanted to do was play basketball, now she's turned the athletic deparment upside down. Can the Wildcats get use to a girl on their team? Can the other teams? Jimmie/OC
1. It's a Girl!

The gym was perfect. They had redone the flooring over the summer and the new floor was shiny, scuff free and featured a huge picture of the Wildcat in the middle. It had been the Senior Present. Jack Bolton smiled down at the wildcat as the gym doors opened and a few boys walked in, going to the table Chad sat at, signing up for basketball. It hadn't taken a lot of cajoling to get Chad to agree to help with try outs. After all, Wildcat was in the boy's blood. Since Troy had Left for California Chad had become Jack's stand in son. A few more people walked in and signed up, standing around awkwardly with the others. Jack turned his attention to his old team, who were already there and sitting on the bleachers. Jimmie Zara, or Rocket Man as he preferred to be called, was rapping while Donnie Dion beat boxed for him. It was a sad sight to see, however Jimmie was the front runner for Captain this year.

"Umm… Coach?" Jack turned to Chad who was standing up. The other boys looked up as Jack walked over, confused.

"What's up Danforth?"

"This… chick, wants to sign up." Jack looked down into the blue grey eyes of a blonde female. She couldn't have been taller than five foot five and maybe a hundred and twenty pounds on a good day. She looked up at him, slightly annoyed.

"This… Dude won't let me." She pursed her small pink lips and quirked an eyebrow.

"Baby doll, Cheerleading try outs were last week." They looked over at Jimmie, who had stood up with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I hope you make it." The girl rolled her eyes and looked back at Jack. Rocket Man walked down from the bleachers, Donnie forever by his side, and headed over to see what was going on.

"Why do you want to join the boy's team miss…?"

"Evans, Kiki Evans." She answered, ignoring Jimmie's snort and Chad choking on air.

"Evans? Like-"

"Like Ryan and Sharpay. They're my older brother and sister."

"Kiki?" Jimmie asked, still laughing.

"Well you could call me Kiely Killian but I'd be forced to kick you in the face." Kiki turned to look at him.

"That's just violent." Donnie spoke up. Kiki looked at him, surprised, like she hadn't noticed he was there before.

"Whatever. There's no girl basketball team and according to the rule books that means a girl can join the boys' team if she wishes to." Kiki nodded. Chad grabbed one of the rule books from Jack's bag and flipped through it.

"Miss Evans I don't think,"

"Look, I'm not going to freak over women's rights or anything. If I'm good let me in, if I'm not then cut me. I have no plans on going to a lawyer whining about sexism or whatever. This isn't about equal rights or anything other than my love for basketball and your team being the only one in the school." She said. Jack sighed, even if she didn't plan on going to a lawyer if it got out that they hadn't let a girl even try out there'd be press all over it.

"Fine, but don't think I'm going to have the boys go easy on you." He warned. Kiki brightened and took the pen from the table, writing her name on the list.

"Coach, you can't be serious." Rocket man shook his head as they all watched her run to the bleachers, drop her pale blue gym back and unzip her hooded sweatshirt.

"I don't really have a choice Rocket." Jack shrugged.

"She's right, it says right here. If a school doesn't have a girls' team a female can join the boys' team." Chad sighed. The boys didn't take their eyes off Kiki as she pulled her shirt over her head, revealing a white tank top. Next her jeans came down leaving her in pale blue shorts.

"This is insane." Jimmie threw his hands in the air, walking away. Donnie hurried after him leaving Chad and Jack alone.

"I have to say, He's right. This could end badly, very, very badly." Chad nodded.

"Yeah, I know. " Jack sighed. "Okay men… and Kiki, line up."

"I don't demand that you single me out, I'll answer to guys, men, whatever, it's just easier to assume you're talking to me too. " Kiki said as they ran to line up on the far side of the gym.

"Okay then. When I blow my whistle I want you to turn from one side of the gym and back." Jack helped Chad move the table and he blew the whistle. They all shot off and a tall black boy was the first back, followed closely by Kiki then a tall Hispanic boy. They did that a few more times before Jack looked back at his team.

"Are they ready coach?" Jimmie asked, getting up.

"I'm going to pair you up and you'll play a quick one on one drill with one of our current wildcats, just to see what you can do." Jack said as the boys came down from the bleachers.

"Coach!" Jimmie called, running over to him. "I want Evans." He nodded at the blonde, who was stretching her arms. Jack quirked an eyebrow at him, but shrugged.

"Evans, you're with Rocket man." Kiki looked up and walked over, smirking at him.

"So why do they call you Rocket man?" She asked.

"I'm as fast as a rocket." Jimmie answered.

"What kind of rocket?" Kiki asked, Jimmie thought about it as Jack threw the ball in the air, distracting him. Kiki jumped up and hit the ball, running around Jimmie to get the ball. By this point Jimmie realized what she'd done and ran after her. The two went back and forth, each time he scored she'd score a few seconds later. Finally Jack called out,

"Next Basket wins." Kiki faked left and spun around him, dribbling the ball. Jimmie chased after her because; while she had speed he had at least four inches on the small girl and had done a decent job of blacking her so far. Kiki ducked under his arm, threw a jump shot and cheered as it sailed through the basket.

"She shoots she scores!" She skipped over to the bleachers, sitting in the row behind the others.

"Dude, you got beat by a girl." Donnie laughed.

"Shut up, she would have just stepped on your head." Jimmie snapped. Donnie stopped laughing, glaring at the other boy. As the try out wore on it was obvious which players were up to par and which were just there to keep their dads happy. By the end of the day Jack was close to pulling his hair out because of a whiney young man named Hamilton.

"Okay, Tomorrow after school all you be here to find out who made it and who didn't." Jack announced, looking at him clip board, then at Chad, who was going to help him pick. This wasn't going to be easy, mostly thanks to the blonde girl who was pulling her jeans back over her skinny hips.


	2. Attitude

The next morning it did not escape Kiki's attention that everyone was staring at her. She was use to it, at first people stared because she was Ryan and Sharpay's sister, then it was because they found out she'd been at a boarding school for the past two years. Now, the reason was painfully obvious. Everyone was staring because she was going out for the basketball team. Kiki sighed and spun the lock, pulling it open. Her locker was messed up and all it took was a really good spin and the sucker would just pop right open.

"You're Kiki right?" the blonde turned, nearly running into a brunette with buck teeth and freckles across her nose.

"Maybe, what did she do?" Kiki asked suspiciously. The girl laughed and clapped Kiki on the back.

"She didn't do anything. I just wanted to know if you… I mean she actually tried out for basketball."

"Yeah, I did." Kiki nodded, grabbing her books and closing the locker, spinning the lock again.

"Good, me and a bunch of my friends-"

"A bunch of my friends and I." Kiki corrected automatically.

"Whatever, anyway we're going to be at the cuts tonight rooting for you." She smiled.

"And you are?"

"Larissa, Larissa Mickowitz." Kiki nodded. She so wouldn't remember that. She stopped, sitting her books on the stairs so she could twist her blonde locks up into a twist to keep it out of her face.

"Well then I'll see you there." She said when it was obvious Larissa Mickowitz intended to follow her all the way to homeroom. Larissa faltered a moment, but brightened.

"I can't wait!" She chirped and skipped, literally skipped, away.

"Who was that?" Kiki jumped when she heard a voice behind her. Rocket Man and Donny stood there, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"That was my fan club, apparently." Kiki said, looking down the hall to make sure Larissa was gone. Jimmie snorted and shook his head.

"Some fan club. They haven't seen you play."

"I beat you Rocket Boy." Kiki pointed out. "Not a lot of the newbies managed to beat the old players."

"Rocket _man_" Jimmie corrected. Kiki rolled her eyes and picked up her books.

"I'm going to be late _Rocket Man_." She said, heading up the stairs. Jimmie, and of course Donnie, followed.

"Good thing we have homeroom together." He smiled.

"Do we? I never noticed." Kiki said honestly. She usually slept through homeroom. For all she knew her mom, dad, brother and sister all took the class and wore monkey suits. She had to smile at that image, nearly tripping when she ran out of stairs. Jimmie caught her arm.

"Geez, first you ignore me then you nearly face plant. Are you always this out of it?" he asked.

"Usually, yeah." Kiki nodded, pushing open the door to homeroom. Kiki wasn't going to lie, she knew who and what she was. She took her usual seat in the back of the room and slumped down, resting her head on the desk, nearly getting sat on when Jimmie hopped up.

"This is not time to sleep, this is time to talk."

"It's not grammar time either is it?" She asked. He looked confused. "Never mind." She shook her head. She didn't want to waste her time explaining grammar to someone who wouldn't remember what she'd said ten minutes from now.

"So a bunch of the guys on the team are mad."

"Am I supposed to care?" Kiki asked. Jimmie looked at Donny and nodded. Donny walked off, going to his own seat. Jimmie turned to face her, one of his feet on either side of her legs, his elbows resting on his knees.

"Look Baby Doll,"

"Don't call me that you condescending ass." She ordered. He was taken aback for a moment but quickly gathered his bearings.

"Look Kiki, I don't know why you want to join the team, but the word around the team is you're doing it to meet guys." He took her hand and smiled at her. "If that's it, you don't need to join basketball, we've already noticed you." Kiki narrowed her eyes, ripping her hand from his and stood up.

"You honestly think this is so I can meet guys? If I wanted to meet guys, which honestly I don't, I wouldn't join the basketball team to do it! You all are egotistical, patronizing lunk heads who can't even beat a girl at their own game! I told you all yesterday, I'm joining the team because I love basketball and I want to play. You all are not going to stop me!" she hefted her bag over her shoulder and got up to go to a different seat. Halfway there she stopped, turning back to him. "Oh, and try to hold my hand again, lest you find it shoved someplace incredibly uncomfortable." She warned, going to the new seat. Everyone had turned to watch the exchange and Jimmie was mildly embarrassed.

"You're just messing everything up. Couldn't you join a league at the community center or something?"

"Please, those are jokes. If I get in I'm going to play and you and all your little lackeys won't be able to stop me." She managed to say just before Darbus walked into the room and started reading off announcements.

"I personally," she added at the end, "Would like to extend a wish of good luck towards Miss Evans; I hope you make the team. I know your brother and sister would be proud of you." Kiki snorted, covering her mouth.

"Sorry. Sharpay is far from happy and Ryan doesn't know yet." Kiki nodded.

"Oh, well I'm sure Ryan will be happy for you when he knows."

"That's if I make the team." She said, looking down at her notebook.

"Well I heard from certain sources that you were… kickin'." The class held back laughter as the bell rang and everyone ran out to their first hour.


	3. The Cut

**Happy Halloween ya'll. I'll be sitting at home with my boyfriend and friends handing out candy and watching Horror Movies : )**

"Kiki!" Larissa called as soon as the blonde walked into the cafeteria. Kiki sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead, she hadn't gotte a moment of silence all day. "Kiki! Come sit with us!" Despite her better judgement, Kiki got her lunch and went to sit with Larissa and her friends, who had been virtually stalking her through the halls.

"Kiki, This is Jessica, Michelle, Courney, Jax and Kevin." Larissa pointed to each one in turn.

"Yeah I know." Kiki muttered sitting down.

"Guys, this is Kiki Evans, she's going to revolutionize the basketball team by becoming the first girl in history to infatrate the all boy group."

"Did you just say infa... you know what never mind." Kiki shook her head, correcting these people was getting annoying, she had corrected the grammer of each of the teens already today and she was tired of it. She ran a hand through her hair, unlike her drama obsessed older sibling Kiki didn't like attention. She didn't want people talking about her or following her around or forming a fan club. It was just creepy.

"So this is the Kiki Evans fan club." They looked up to find the basketball team and a few boys that had tried out.

"Just kill me now." Kiki muttered.

"Yep! Larissa Mickowitz, founder and president."

"You know what?" Kiki asked, standing up. "I'm not hungry." She walked around the table only to be stopped by a couple of the bigger guys on the team.

"Look Evans, wehave inside information that you didn't make the team. You gonna keep your promise?" One of them, Matt Ross asked. Kiki's stomach dropped, she had let her ego get the best of her, se hadn't even considered the actual possibility of getting cut, mostly because she had rocked the try out.

"Kiki's going to make it, and if she doesn't we'll take it to court." Larissa spoke up.

"I'll keep my promise. No laywers, no court, no hard feelings." Kiki nodded, ignoring the other girl.

"Good." Matt smirked.

"Yeah, now move." Kiki ordered, pushing past him and the rest of the guys.

"Ooh you made her mad Matt, look out." A few of them laughed as she walked out of the cafeteria.

Yep, if there was one thing Kiki truly didn't like, it was the attention.

That afternoon Larissa and her band of annoying fan girls and fan boys sat in the bleachers as the possible wildcats stood in line. Kiki toyed with her ponytail, her stomach churning. Matt's words played over and over in her head. 'You didn't make the team'.

"As you know, if I could I'd keep all of you, but I can't so it's my," Jack stopped as the door opened and a familer blonde walked in, her pink high heels clacking loudly on the floor.

"Shar? You're late and interrupting." Kiki nodded at her sister. Sharpay looked up and glanced around.

"Oh, oops, well don't mind me." Sharpay chirped, walking up into the bleachers.

"Anyway, I have to cut the people that didn't quite work up to Wildcat standards. If I call your name grab you stuff and head out, you didn't make the cut." Jack announced, walking back and forth.

"Here we go." Kiki tured to see Matt smirking at her. She glared at him a moment before turning her attention back to Jack.

"Devan Sanders, Heath Bardwell, Joe Mackey, Lyle Stype, Bryce Kinson, Gordon Yeelee and... Kiki Evans." Kiki's jaw hardened as the instinct to tear up kicked in. She couldn't, not in front of these guys. She shrugged, trying to look non chalant and turned, going to get her bag.

"That's crap!" Sharpay cried jumping up, nearly causing Kiki to fall back in surprise.

"Excuse me?" Jack asked.

"Coach Bolton, I've seen my sister play, she's good, as good as Troy or Chad even." Sharpay said, struggling to get down from the bleacher without falling.

"Sharpay, it's fine." Kiki said quietly.

"Miss Evans. I have to cut someone and,"

"And you chose quite possibly one of the best players this team could have."

"She beat your best player." Larissa pointed out, getting up.

"Seriously, it's no big deal." Kiki insisted.

"She did?" Sharpay asked. "See Coach, if she beat your best-"

"Sharpay!" Kiki cried, looking up at her sister with wide eyes. "It's fine, lets just go home, I'm sure mom can't wait to hear that I didn't make it." She said bitterly. She headed towards the door.

"Expect a call from the Evans' family laywer." Sharpay warned.

"Don't expect a call." Kiki contridicted, walking back to grab Sharpay's arm and drag her out of the gym. They got into Sharpay's pink convertible and Kiki drew her knees to her chest.

"Hey kid, you okay?" Sharpay asked.

"Not really." Kiki answered, her voice thick. Sharpay reached over and shook her sister's leg gently.

"How about we get some ice cream, call Ryan and head home for some intense reality show watching?" Sharpay suggested. Kiki rested her forehead on her knees and shrugged. "Look kid, it's okay it was just a basketball team right?" That's what Kiki had bee saying since the beginning, it was just a team, it was just a game, blah blah blah.

"I know." Kiki said, her voice cracking. She was trying desperatly not to cry. She couldn't cry, it was against her... well personality quite frankly. "Can we just go home and call Ryan later?" She asked. Sharpay sighed and turned onto the street that would take them home. Sharpay parked in the garage and before she could say anything Kiki had jumped out of the car and run inside. Sharpay followed at a slower speed, stopping in the kitchen when she saw her mom.

"Where did Kiki go in just a hurry?" She asked, sipping at her smoothie.

"Umm... she didn't make the basketball team." Sharpay said, trying to ignore the slightly relieved look on her mom's face. "I think she's really upset about it." Sharpay added pointedly.

"Well I for one am happy, I don't like the idea of my little Kiki playing basketball with guys twice her size."

"She's not so happy." Sharpay shrugged, going into the fridge.

"She'll get over it. Basketball is just something your sister did for attention." Sharpay shook her head, she didn't think so, but arguing with their mom was like pulling to get out of a chinese finger trap, useless and just makes it worse.


	4. We Are Family

**So... I played basketball in gym today. You want proof that Kiki isn't based off me in the least? I was tripped (hurt my knee and ankle) got hit in the eye and in the shoulder with the ball. It hurt really, really bad.**

Kiki had gone up to her room and flopped down on her bed. She had been so sure she'd make it. She wasn't stupid, she knew it wasn't because she wasn't good enough, it was because it'd create too much chaos, she understood that, but she had just been hoping that Coach Bolton would ignore that. She didn't blame him, okay, maybe she did a little. She pressed her face to her pillow, holding in tears, picking up her phone. She dialed and held it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Ry?" Kiki asked in a small voice.

"Keeks? What's up?" Ryan asked, concerned. She took a few small breaths before she said anything.

"I... I tried out for basketball. I didn't get in." She choked back a sob.

"Oh Keeks, I'm sorry, but... I've seen you play you're gr... oh wait." Ryan got it after a moment. "You got cut because you're a girl."

"Yeah."She said, pressing her face back into the pillow.

"Well I'll be coming home soon to visit. You, Me and Sharpay can get ice cream and make fun of the guys on the team."

"Thank Ry." Kiki managed to say.

"No problem Keeks, I have to go, Kelsi and I are going to work over dinner, but I'll call you later okay?"

"Okay, talk to you later Ryan." She said, her voice barely a whisper before she held down the red end button. She closed her side kick and tossed it to the side, she didn't want to hear Ryan say goodbye. When Kiki was twelve her parents sent her to a boarding school for gifted teens, the only good part of that was getting rid of teachers that fawned over how smart she was. She hadn't seen her brother and sister in two years, and when she was finally able to come back, having gotten kicked out of the boarding school, Ryan was off to New York.

Not that she wasn't thrilled for Ryan. Julliard was his dream and it was fantastic that he was getting to live it, but she missed her brother. She loved Ryan, he was so easy to talk to and he understood everything, as long as she didn't go 'crazy genius' on him. His term for when she started explaining things he didn't care to know, or when she used big words and corrected his grammar.

Correcting Grammar was more of an OCD thing than a smart thing though. She couldn't help it. She was just about to get up to change out of her gym clothes when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" She asked, not recognizing the number. She recognized the voice though.

"Hi Kiki!"

"Larissa, how'd you get my phone number?"

"Your sister gave it to me. I asked her for it." Larissa chirped. Kiki made a mental note to murder her sister.

"Did you want something?" She asked, getting up and kicking her shoes off.

"Just to see if you were okay. You seemed pretty upset." Larissa sounded genuinely concerned. Kiki sighed and shrugged, even though Larissa couldn't see it.

"I'm fine, just... my ego's a little bruised." She lied, slipping her shorts off and pulling out a pair of pajama pants.

"Okay, I'll see you at school tomorrow?" Larissa asked.

"Umm... Larissa, I didn't make the team, there's nothing to be a fan of." Kiki pointed out. She couldn't change her shirt while on the phone so she sat down in her big green chair.

"I know, but, I was kind of hoping we could be friends or something. I've seen you around school you don't really... you know... have any." Kiki opened her moouth to protest but realized Larissa was right, Kiki didn't actually have any friends at East High. "You don't really like me do you?" Larissa asked after a pause.

"No. I mean, No I like you just fine Larissa I'm just... not use to having people actually wanting to be my friend." Kiki said honestly.

"Why?"

"I... I have to go there's someone on the other line." Kiki lied. "I'll see you tomorrow." She quickly hung up, tossing the phone on the bed and pulling her shirt over her head. She changed into a different top and went to lay on her bed, groaning when her cell phone rang again.

"Hello?" She asked, her voice boarderlining whiney. "Hello?"

"Hey." A voice said after a moment.

"Who is this?" Kiki covered a yawn and pulled her pants back up around her hips. They were a size to big for her and kept sliding down. She never got an answer, the person hung up. She groaned and pressed her thumb on the red phone button for the third time. "I quit." She muttered, tossing the phone to the chair. The door opened and Her mother stood there. Mrs. Evans was a pretty woman, and Kiki looked nothing like her. Kiki had the same blonde hair her brother and sister had, Mrs. Evans had brown hair. Kiki's body was mostly made up of her long legs, Mrs. Evans was more torso than anything.

"Hey Baby." She came and sat on Kiki's bed.

"Hey." Kiki looked down at her feet. Her toenails were painted blue, so were her fingernails. Sharpay had literally held her down the night before, thinking the paint would keep Kiki from chewing on her nails, and it did, now she picked at the polish instead.

"I heard about the try out. Maybe it's a good thing you didn't make it."

"How do you figure?" Kiki asked.

"Well you said it yourself, you didn't want a lot of attention. Being on the team would have gotten you a ton of attention."

"I could deal with it as long as I could play." Kiki glared daggars at her mother. Kiki didn't get along with her mother, she loved her mother of course, but Catherine Evans just didn't understand her youngest daughter. Kiki didn't like to shop, she didn't like to wear mud masks and watch reruns of The Hills and The Real Housewives of Orange County. Kiki was smarter than her parents by the age of nine and she liked sports, something Catherine hadn't counted on with her young daughter.

"Kiki dear..." Catherine stopped, she wasn't really sure what she could say. "Maybe next time." She patted Kiki's shoulder and headed out of the room.

"That was helpful." Kiki muttered when her door closed. "I officially quit." She decided, crawling under her blanket and closing her eyes.


	5. Chips will Rain

**I don't have a beta. I don't have spell check or grammar check. I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. That's why the grammar and Spelling probably bite it big time.**

**And... after seeing HSM3 for the second time I realized, Mrs. Evans is a blonde... but when I looked at pics of the actress she was brunette so... yeah, I realize that now. **

The next morning Kiki went to her locker to find Larissa already there. Kiki sighed before walking over.

"Hey... Larissa." Kiki waited for her to move so she could open the locker.

"You hung up on me last night."

"No I didn't. I told you, I had another call." Kiki shrugged, spinning the lock and pulling the door open.

"Yeah right." Larissa rolled her eyes. "Who was it?"

"My brother Ryan. He's in college up at Julliard, I don't get to talk to him that often." Okay, Kiki knew it was wrong to lie about her brother, but it was only a half lie, she really didn't get to talk to him that often.

"Oh... well then, I was thinking at lunch, we could get Jax and Jessica to pour soup over the jock table. It's right under the upper platform, they're practially begging for it." Larissa grinned. That grin widened when Kiki laughed.

"That would be the funniest thing I'd ever seen." She admitted, picturing Jimmie and Donny, soaked with soup. She got her books and closed her locker. "I'll see you later." She nodded, heading to homeroom. She didn't even care that Jimmie and Donny were in the same homeroom, she just couldn't get the picture out of her head. She dropped her books and plopped into her seat, laughing when the pair walked into the room. They looked at her confused as she composed herself.

"Are you alright Miss Evans?" Ms. Darbus asked as she walked in the room. Kiki took a few deep breaths before nodding.

"Yeah I'm fine." She avoided looking at the two boys.

"What a freak." She heard the people behind her say. That sobered her up instantaniously.

At lunch Jax and Jessica didn't pour soup over the basketball players, however they did drop chips over the side, hurrying to straighten up before the guys looked up and saw them.

"Got Rocketman's head. It's all in his hair." Jessica confirmed. That sent Michelle and Larissa into giggles while Kiki sipped her was kind of glad she had made friends with these guys. They were kind of fun when they weren't part of her fanclub, that was more creepy than flattering. Jax went to drop another chip but frowned when he looked over the railing.

"They're gone."

"They're tired of having crap drop from the sky." Everyone at the table jumped as the Basketball team appeared next to them. "Which of you did it?" Jimmie asked. Jax and Jessica exchanged a look, but it was Kiki that stood up.

"I did." She ignored the fact that it was impossible, she was on the wrong side of the table to have done it, but they didn't care.

"Why were you throwing things at us?" Donny asked. Kiki shrugged.

"Cause it looked like fun." She answered. They glared at her.

"What happened to 'no hard feelings.'?" one of the guys asked.

"There aren't any. I didn't realize you were the ones that sat under there." Jimmie rolled his eyes and took a chip from her.

"Well now you know." They turned and headed away. Kiki rolled her eyes and counted. When she got to sixty she nodded at Jax and Jessica. They grinned at her before tossing the crumbs left in the bags over the side and they all jumped up and ran off, laughing as they ran. A few of the guys jumped up to chase after them, but they didn't get very far, deciding the 'nerds' weren't worth it.

"I love you guys." Kiki sighed as they ran up the stairs to the roof. She was the most in shape of them and by the time the got to the roof everyone else was huffing and puffing. Kiki, on the other hand was jumping up on the edge of one of the planter boxes.

"We knew you would." Michelle grinned as she caught her breath.

"You really need to start working out. This was not that far of a walk." Kiki commented.

"We ran. Besides, we just stuffed ourselves"

"And Rocket Man's hair." Larissa joked. They laughed and played around for a while until the bell rang, then they booked it down to class.

"Miss Evans you're late." Mr. Bolton said. Coach wasn't just Coach, he taught science.

"Sorry I was kind of lost. This school is incredibly huge." Kiki lied going to her seat. "You have crumbs in your hair." She muttered as she passed Jimmie. It was just bad luck that she had most of her classes with the egotistical jerk, but at that moment, the murderous look on his face made it totally worth it. She couldn't help but laugh as she sat down.

"Don't let it happen again." Mr. Bolton warned. Kiki nodded and pulled out her science notebook. She was in the middle of writing her notes when a piece of paper landed on her desk. She looked up at Mr. Bolton who hadn't noticed and carefully uncrumpled the paper. She smoothed it out and looked up at Mr. Bolton to make sure the noise hadn't gotten his attention, it handn't.

'r u comin 2 pratize tonite. 2 watch us hoties.

RM'

Jimmie was waiting for a reply, figuring he'd at least hear an angry growl. A minute later the paper, neatly folded, landed on his desk. She had corrected his part so it read,

'Are you coming to practice tonight? To watch us hotties?

Rocket Man'

But at the bottom she added,

'I might come, but not to watch the 'hotties'

Kiki

P.S. It disturbs me that you think of the others as hot.' Jimmie blushed and looked over his shoulder to glare at her. She smiled at him and blew a bubble with her green gum.

"Rocket Man, perhaps you can tell me the answer." Mr Bolton quirked an eyebrow. Jimmie turned back to the front and blinked, looking at the question on the board.

"I-I... umm..."

"Twelve." Someone whispered.

"Twelve?" Jimmie tried. Mr. Bolton frowned, but nodded.

"Very good." Jimmie looked back at Kiki, who had given him the answer.

"Thanks." He muttered.

"You're welcome." Kiki shrugged, still scribbling notes into her notebook.


	6. And It Will All Change

"I don't want to go." Larissa whined when Kiki asked her to come with her to the practice.

"Why not?" Kiki asked.

"Because you're not on the team."

"You can go and we can laugh at how much they suck without me." Kiki dangled the idea in front of Larissa.

"I don't know... Why do you want me to go? I thought you found me annoying."

"I do." Kiki nodded, no need to lie, "But I don't want to go alone and you're the closest thing I have to a friend." Larissa smiled at that.

"Okay you win, lets go." Larissa closed her locker and headed towards the gym. Kiki breathed a sigh of relief, now she'd look a little less pathetic. They opened the doors to the gym and went to sit in the bleachers while the boys ran around and shot.

"Boys, Time to practice." Jack seperated them into two teams and had them play against each other.

"Wow..." Larissa frowned. "They really suck." Kiki nodded in agreement. They really were not good. Few people knew what they were doing and the ones that did kept getting cut off by the others. Kiki pressed a hand to her forehead when a new kid, Oscar Mann, knocked Jimmie to the ground. They were on the same team. They watched as they got worse as time went on.

"That's it." Kiki muttered getting up. Larissa stood, thinking they were leaving, but Kiki turned and walked over to Coach.

"Miss Evans." Coach nodded.

"You shouldn't put Donny on defense." She said, not even bothering with a hello. "He's too short, but he's fast, he'd be better on offense."

"I don't... well wait... Dion! Switch, you're on Offense now."

"You're two best shooters are Ji-Rocket man... and Umm... well I think Crawford's okay I guess. You're best defense would be West, Penn and Greene." Jack considered it, watching the guys play, most of them distracted by the fact that Kiki was looking at the papers in Coach's hand.

"What do you think about Lemeche?" He asked.

"Shouldn't be allowed out of the house without a helmet, but he'd be a good distraction and if, heaven forbid, he gets the ball he knows to throw it to someone in a matching uniform... I'm assuming." Kiki shrugged. They looked up at the boy in question, just in time to see him throw it, and no one was in that area to catch it. "Refer back to my helmet comment." Jack sighed.

"Lemeche, you don't throw the ball unless there's someone to catch it."

"Okay, maybe he'd just be better on the bench." Kiki gave him a few more tips on people and he gently tapped the eraser end of his pencil on his upper lip before speaking.

"Evans!" Kiki, who was on her way back up the bleachers, turned.

"Go get changed, you're on the team." Larissa squealed as Kiki took a moment to process what he'd said.

"Wait... seriously?" She asked.

"Coach... you cna't do that." Jimmie tried to argue.

"I'm the coach Zara, I can do what I want and I want Evans on the team, meanwhile the rest of you over here." Kiki was already running out of the room down to the girl's locker room and getting her gym clothes. She ran back up, tying her hair into a messy bun as she went.

"You took Lemeche's spot." Donny glared.

"You'll thank me later." Kiki smiled at him.

"Okay Evans, you know what to do." Seeing as she'd helped him with it, yeah she knew. She went and stood in front of Rocket Man and smirked at him.

"You're not gonna distract me this time _Kiki._" He said her name in a mocking voice.

"I wouldn't even try, You're too smart for that. By the way, you're shoe's untied." Jimmie looked down as Kiki jumped for the ball. She wasn't tall, she knew that, but she could distract people and that was her trick. She heard Jimmie curse as she ran off after the ball. By the end of practice most of the other guys were lagging, tired, while Kiki and Rocket Man practically killed each other. Larissa had apparently called everyone to say the Kiki Evans Fan Club was back on because Jessica, Jax, Michelle and everyone else sat in the bleachers cheering whenever Kiki got the ball.

"Evans, Rocket Man, practice is over." Coach announced watching as the two slumped. They were both sweaty and out of breath. "Hit the showers." He ordered. Kiki ran down to the locker room and pulled her shirt over her head.

"Hey Evans," The door opened and Jimmie stuck his head in. Kiki placed her hands on her hips, happy she wore under shirts.

"Yeah?" She asked when he didn't continue.

"Umm.... Right, glad you're on the team." He blushed and closed the door. Kiki grinned and undressed, getting into the showers, flip flops on her feet. She showered waching all the sweat and dirt from her body and stepped out, grabbing a towel to wrap around her body.

"_Bangkok, Oriental setting, And the city don't know that the city is getting, The creme de la creme of the chess world in a, Show with everything but Yul Brynner, Time flies -- doesn't seem a minute, Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it, All change -- don't you know that when you, Play at this level there's no ordinary venue, One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster, The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free, You'll find a god in every golden cloister, And if you're lucky then the god's a she, I can feel an angel sliding up to me_." She sang doing a little spin. She opened her locker and pulled out her clothes.

She didn't bother to brush or dry her hair, just pulled it back into the ponytail, and headed outside. She pulled her I-pod out of her pocket and stuck the earbuds in each ear. She couldn't get ahold of anyone to pick her up so she was going to walk. She hadn't gotten very far when a pathetic old car pulled up beside her.

"Hey Princess, need a ride?" Jimmie was in the drivers seat. Kiki glared at him for a moment before sighing. It was one heck of a walk from school to her place. Maybe she'd conceed to Sharpay teaching her to drive, but for now..."

"Fine." The door opened and Donny got out. Kiki stared, waiting for him to get in back.

"Nuh-uh, as the best friend I get front seat."

"As the one with longer legs I get front seat." Kiki had a good three inches on Donny.

"Give me a kiss and I'll think about it." Donny winked. Kiki smiled and him and leaned forward to kiss him, but instead grabbed his ear and pulled the seat forward, shoving him into the back. Jimmie laughed as Donny rubbed his ear and Kiki pushed the seat back, getting in.

"Nice." He grinned. "Where do you live." Kiki rattled off the address and he stared at her a moment.

"What?" She asked.

"That's the rich part of town."

"No kidding. Rocket Man, my family kind of is rich." Kiki nodded. It was common knowledge.

"Well I know but... I've never actually been there. The neighborhood I mean."

"It's not that impressive, big houses, people overcompensating for the fact that they don't really have the time to like their families so they buy houses big enough that they can avoid each other all together if they so choose." Kiki drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them.

"Girl, you don't even need the leg room." Donny complained.

"Yeah, but I still won." Kiki grinned.


	7. It's a Psychological Condition!

"Foul!" Coach Bolton yelled as Kiki was knocked to the ground for the umpteenth time.

"Swear to god Zara I will rip your throat out." Kiki growled as she picked herself up off the ground.

"Can't play with the boys then go join volleyball." He smirked. Kiki scowled and headed to take her shots. She got the first but missed the second thanks to Jimmie, coughing loudly as she took the shot. She glared at him; he was moodier than she was. She thought back to Homeroom that morning

_"And a big congratulations to Miss Evans for making the team." Ms. Darbus clapped her hands and left the students to talk amongst themselves and work on forgotten homework. Kiki, who usually managed to finish her homework either in class or before she got home, opened her book, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. A hand, male by the look of it had come up over the book to cover the pages. Kiki looked up into the face of Rocket Man._

_"Can you read it now?" he asked._

_"I'm smart, not super woman." Kiki answered, jerking the book out from under his hands._

_"You sure?" He asked with a smirk. Kiki quirked an eyebrow at him._

_"If you try and use that as an excuse to shoot me-"_

_"Naw, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't last in prison."_

_"I don't doubt it." Kiki agreed. She tried to go back to her book but Jimmie pulled it from her hands and closed it._

_"No reading, it's time to talk."_

_"About?" She quirked an eyebrow. He smiled at her and leaned so he could rest his elbows on the desk. She leaned forward her blue eyes meeting his brown ones._

_"Don't know. I just don't want to see a pretty girl like you wasting her time-"_

_"Swear to god if you saw 'wasting my time reading' I will beat you to death." Kiki said, trying to push away the fact that he'd called her pretty. This was not the time to get flustered over compliments._

_"Looking forward to practice tonight?" He asked with a grin._

_"Maybe. Depends on how you all act." She shrugged, getting up when the bell rang._

_"What do you mean?" He picked up his back pack and walked with her._

_"If you act like a bunch of idiots then it won't really be worth it."_

_"Kiki!" The pair turned to see Larissa running down the hall after them._

_"...Holy crap..." They said in unison. Larissa came to a stop next to them, patting her hair._

_"Do you like it?" She had died her hair blonde. Not as blonde as Kiki's hair, but it was still pretty blonde._

_"I...umm..." Kiki was speechless._

_"I knew you'd love it!" Larissa chirped. "What do you think Rocket Man?" Jimmie looked like he was trying not to laugh. It wasn't that she looked bad, she didn't, it was just... kind of obvious why she had dyed it._

_"I think it's awesome." He nodded. "I got to get going." He ran off, presumably to tell Donny about Larissa's hair._

He had been normal, even pleasant then, now he was being a total jerk, as he knocked her over once again. Kiki got back up and clenched her jaw, looking at Jack.

"Rocket man! Come on." He shouted. Kiki went to take her shots, holding the ball in her hands. Instead of shooting it at the basket she chest passed it, as hard as she could, into Jimmie's stomach. He hadn't been watching and when the ball hit him it knocked the wind out of him, sending him to his knees.

"Stop being an asshat." She snapped, walking around him to get the ball. Jack pressed his hand to his face. This was not working.

"Evans! Zara! See me after practice." he ordered. The two glared at each other and Kiki took her shots, making them both. They ran off in opposite directions to get back with their mini teams. Larissa, who had appointed herself junior coach, stood next to Jack.

"Next time, you should put them on the same team. Less of a chance they'll murder each other." Jack did a double take when he saw her.

"Okay... And you are?"

"Larissa Mickowitz, your new team manager." She smiled. Jack thought about it a moment, but decided against arguing with the girl, if it meant he'd have more time to work out plays he was cool with it. Now if only he could get his star players to stop attacking each other. This point was only proven when the two jumped for the ball and wrestled for it until they were both on the floor. The ball slipped away and rolled a few feet away and both dived for it. Jack sighed and walked over, grabbing Kiki by the back of her shirt, because she was lighter. He yanked her up off of Jimmie and roughly yanked the male up by the front of his shirt.

"Practice is over Hit the showers, except you two. My office, now."

"Coach, your office is in the boys locker room." Kiki pointed out.

"Then you better get there fast." Jack let go of the pair and they took off for the office. Jack glanced over at Larissa, who was dutifully collecting basketballs. "At least some of the females in this school aren't insane." He muttered, walked down to the locker room. The shades in his window were pulled down, but he could see the shadows of Jimmie and Kiki. Kiki was sitting on the desk and Jimmie was slumped into a chair. Sure enough when Jack pushed the door open that's where they were.

"Please I hope you..." Kiki trailed off when she saw Jack.

"You hope he what?" Jack asked, closing the door.

"I hope he chokes on his own stupidity." She finished. Jack frowned.

"Off my desk." He pointed to the seat next to Jimmie. He turned to them and shook his head.

"What exactly is wrong with you two?" He asked.

"She's psycho."

"He's an asshat."

"Language Evans." Jack snapped. Kiki crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "Let me try that again. Where exactly did you get the idea that it's okay to be the holy hello out of other players?" His voice rose a little, but not to the point of yelling.

"Ask him, he was fouling me all day." Kiki jerked her head towards Rocket Man. He glared at her.

"I'm just helping. This is how it's going to be when we actually play. They are going to be ruthless, meaner than I was." Kiki opened her mouth to respond, but closed it, he was right.

"It's not your place to 'prepare' her for what might happen." Jack said calmly, he realized Jimmie was right too, but that didn't make it okay. "From now on..." He got up and opened the door.

"And this goes for all of you, Kiki is your teammate, you are to treat her as such. Don't treat her like a flower and don't go out of your way to knock her out." He closed the door again. "Got it?" The two nodded, though still glared at each other.

"Next time you knock me over Zara, I'll slash your tires." Kiki threatened, going to the door. Jack opened it and Kiki walked out, a few shrieks from unsuspecting guys followed.

"Looking forward to the game." Jimmie rolled his eyes and walked out to get changed.

"He's still a jerk." Kiki muttered to Larissa, who was waiting outside the locker room.

"Yeah." Larissa sighed. "Too bad, He's really cute."

"Ew." Kiki wrinkled her nose. "No, he's not." Larissa just shrugged They went to the girl's locker room and Kiki pulled her shirt over her head. She changed into her jeans and tank top, heting her messenger bag over her shoulder.

"I'll see you later Keiko." Larissa waved, running to her mom's car.

"Don't call me Keiko!" Kiki called after her. Kiki went to sit down, pulling out her cell phone to call Sharpay to pick her up. Sure Kiki could have her own car, if she wanted it. It was just easier to get her dad to drop her off in the morning and have Sharpay pick her up after practice. She jumped back onto the curb as a car came speeding by.

"See you later Princess!" Jimmie shouted as they sped by.


	8. The First Game

**Okay so some of you may have noticed I royally screwed up. I accidently uploadedthe wrong chapter and didn't notice like at all. I fixed it and I'm really really sorry for the confusion.**

Finally it was the first game. East High against Sumner. It was one of the three biggest games of the season. The other two being West High and North West, but they weren't going against them for a while. For now they just needed to concentrate on Sumner.

"We need to figure out the best plan of action against these two." Jack had said a week earlier, pacing back and forth in his office. Larissa and Kiki sat on the floor in front of his desk, watching a tape of past games and Jimmie was leaning against a wall, chewing his lip as he watched. After the videos the four had gotten together, Kiki outlining who was best at what and Jimmie countering it with who did what best on their own team. It had been just about perfect, until Jimmie made some stupid comment and Kiki went off on him.

They had spent their week working on play especially for the Sumner team and got them down to just about perfection.

On the day of the game, which was at Sumner, Everyone packed onto the bus and got settled in for the hour-long ride. It wasn't long before Donny was beat boxing and Jimmie was standing up and rapping.

"Yo my name is Rocket man, I'm the man with the plan, Watch it on the court cause I'm gonna slam, your face, into, the wall, Now I send it to my man Matt like I pass the ball." Matt stood up as Jimmie sat down and got to the beat before opening his mouth.

"It's M to the A to the double T. Ya'll better know not to mess with me. I got game and I got class, on the court I'm gonna, bust, your, ask me who comes next? Well give me a sec, yeah let's see, I'm sending it over to… Kiki." They all looked at Kiki who had been watching with Larissa. She stood up and smirked.

"K-I-K-I that's Ki Squared, on the court you better beware, She shoots she scores that's all I hear, I'm the 'Little Princess' you gotta fear. Fake left pass right I'm the best, I'm the one with genes that read XX. Passing The rhyme like I pass the ball, sending it over to… McCall." Kyle McCall stood up and took on the rhyme. By the time they were at the school everyone had done a rap, Jack and Larissa included, and they were dogging each other's beat.

As they got off the bus Kiki was pulling her hair into a ponytail and they were led down to the girl's locker room, which served as the guest locker room during games.

"Okay team, first game of the year. We have the plays down, we've managed to avoid serious bodily injury," He glanced at Kiki and Jimmie who smiled, "now we just need to beat these guys. "Get Ready,"

"Game on!" The team yelled, running out there. Someone from Sumner threw them two balls to practice with until the game started but everything stopped when one of the Sumner players shouted,

"Wait, that's a girl!"

"Son of a…" Kiki muttered under her breath as everyone stopped to look where he pointed, which of course, was at Kiki.

"Very good Tomlinson, you know the difference between a boy and a girl. You get a cookie." Jimmie rolled his eyes.

"I'm not playing against a girl." Tomlinson shook his head. The Sumner coach looked Kiki up and down and looked at Jack. Jack sighed and walked over to conference with the coach and the Ref.

"A girl Jack? Really?"

"Hank, Kiki is good and she doesn't have a problem playing like any of the guys." Jack insisted.

"Can she really play like any of the guys, no special treatment?" The Ref asked.

"She's tough. Tougher than some of the guys I've seen play."

"Jack, look at her, she's like a stick. Some of my guys could snap her with one finger."

"Then she better have great insurance. I say she's in. Let's go." The ref called, blowing his whistle before Hank could argue, temporarily deafening Hank and Jack as they walked back to their teams, who were waiting for the verdict.

"You're in Evans." Jack clapped her on the shoulder.

"Yes!" Kiki cheered, unzipping her jacket. The starters pulled off their sweats and ran out to the court. Kiki went to stand across from their guy and looked at him. He had at least six inches on her, but she had her pretty little trick. She looked as the ref started to lower the ball to throw it. "Hey," She asked, getting the other player's attention. "What's the square root of Pi?" He paused, confused by the question just in time for the ref to throw the ball and Kiki to jump while he was distracted.

"Hey!" He called as Kiki ran off to play. Jimmie got the ball and passed it to Donny who made it down the court, passing it to Matt who kept it away until Jimmie got down the court. Matt passed to Jimmie who shot the ball and scored.

This went on for a quarter and the Sumner team was complaining that they couldn't do anything when Kiki got the ball. They were gentlemen after all. Yeah right. Kiki grabbed Jimmie's arm and pulled him and Matt to the side, having a mini conference. Jack watched, slightly concerned until they walked back, all smiling.

"Let's go." The ref blew the whistle and Kiki took her place.

"Out of curiosity, when I stand like this, can you see down my shirt?" She asked. Of course he looked and she jumped, getting the ball again. The play was McCall would get the ball and pass it to Gavin Sanders who would pass back and forth with Donny as they ran and then to Jimmie who would shoot it.

What ended up happening was McCall got the ball, passed it to Gavin, who passed it back and forth with Donny, who passed it to Jimmie, who passed it to Kiki. As she went to shoot it Matt came out of nowhere and knocked her out. Kiki hissed in pain as Matt helped her up.

"A little over zealous man." She said, rubbing her side. He grinned and shrugged, running off. Kiki rolled her eyes and ran after him as they went to get the ball Sumner had taken.

McCall got the ball and passed it to Gavin, who passed back to McCall, McCall ran down to the other side and passed it to Kiki, who was taken out by Jimmie. She glared at him as he helped her up.

"Okay, you two are really having too much fun with this." She decided as she looked at a burn on her leg. They ran over to Jack as he called a time out.

"What the heck are you three doing?" he shouted.

"Showing Sumner that Little Princess can take a hit." Jimmie answered.

"And enjoying it." Matt added as Larissa took a look at the floor burn on Kiki's leg.

"That's going to hurt worse in a few hours." The girl commented.

"Oh good, because it feels just freaking peachy now." Kiki said through gritted teeth.

"You're the one that said no Mercy." Jimmie shrugged.

"I think Sumner got the idea, no more attacks on your team mate." Jack ordered. They all looked at Sumner, who were looking at them.

"Let's do it then." Jimmie grinned as they ran back out on the court. After seeing her team mates knock her around and her getting up without crying or complaining the Sumner team was convinced she was actually a guy with long hair and out of place boobs and gave themselves permission to really play.

It was too late though. East High won by seven points.

On the bus ride home Larissa had Kiki's now bleeding leg and was trying to get it to stop throbbing. Jimmie walked over and rested his chin on her head.

"Sorry Keek's, you gonna be okay?" He asked.

"After I rip off your arm? I'll be fine." Kiki smiled at him. "Ow!" She yipped as Larissa poked the burn. Jimmie laughed and pulled the hair tie from Kiki's hair letting the blonde locks fall free. He went back to his seat with Donny who was looking over at the girls.

"She's cute isn't she?" He asked.

"Who Kiki?" Jimmie looked at his friend, half amused half horrified.

"What? No! Larissa." The Amusement turned to more horror.

"Really? Really?" Jimmie cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah. I think I'm going to ask her out."

"Good luck with that man." Jimmie held his hands up. Larissa and Donny? Now that was going to be interesting.


	9. Please

So I've realized I'm one of the least romantic people on the planet. My friend was talking about all the great stuff she and her boyfriend had planned for Christmas. When she asked me what I had planned I just sort of stared at her. 'You guys do more than just presents for Christmas?' Then she asked what I was getting him for Christmas then was appalled when I had no freaking idea. Oops

**Oh and I would like to give myself props on the rap in the last chapter. I didn't get to say anything then because I was annoyed with myself the computers and mislabeled chapters, but now I have all the time in the world!**

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't do sleepovers Larissa." Kiki slammed her locker and turned to look at her self proclaimed Best friend. Larissa sighed dramatically and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why not?" She repeated, her voice getting whinier.

"Because I've spent the past two years at boarding school. With a roommate. It was a sleepover every freaking night." Kiki started down the hall. Larissa followed, shoving a paper in the natural blonde's face.

"Please! Kiki come on, you can't be that interested in only hanging out with guys. Oh by the way, how's your leg?" Larissa turned slightly green as Kiki grimaced; pulling up her pant leg to show Larissa the red, bloody burn down her leg.

"Hurts like no other. I'm not going to the sleepover and this is my homeroom, bye now." Kiki opened the door and went to sit down. Jimmie and Donny walked in, doing a double take when they say her. She had her leg up on the desk and was examining her leg.

"Gross, put that away." Jimmie made a face.

"You're the one that did it."

"You told me to."

"I told you to knock the ball out of my hands, not maim me for life." Kiki rolled her eyes, tucking a few loose strands of blonde hair out of her eyes. All three jumped when a hand slammed down on the desk in front of them.

"Ms. Darbus." Jimmie smiled sweetly.

"Miss Evans, please get your disfigured leg off my desk."

"Technically it isn't disfigured Ms. Darbus, it's just gross and it's not really your desk either as it's school property and…" She trailed off as Darbus gave her The Glare, "and I'll just be getting my disfigured leg off your desk." She put her leg on the floor and pulled her pant leg back down over it.

"That's better Miss Evans, and congratulations to the basketball team for their win yesterday." She walked back to the front of the room.

The first few hours of the day passed fairly quickly. Next thing Kiki knew it was Lunch and Rocket man and Donny were dragging her to their table while Larissa followed her, begging her again.

"Please!"

"No! For the love of God Larissa stop asking! No!" Kiki yelled.

"Please." Kiki picked up her paper bowl of mashed potatoes but Donny grabbed it before she could plop it on the taller girl's head.

"What does she want?" Jimmie asked.

"For me to go to her sleep over." Kiki made a face. Larissa rolled her eyes and picked up her fork.

"Oh." Jimmie nodded.

"What's that mean?" Kiki asked, her blue eyes narrowing.

"Nothing." Jimmie shrugged, smirking at her.

"Rocket Man…" Kiki said, glaring at him.

"Just that it doesn't surprise me that you, the great Kiki Evans, are too good for your best friend's sleep over."

"I'm not too good. I just don't like Sleepovers."

"Of course." Jimmie shrugged.

"I really don't like you." Kiki snapped, getting up and walking off. Jimmie grinned; it was just too much fun to make her mad, and it was so easy. Donny turned to Larissa with a smirk.

"I'd love to go to your sleep over." He said. Larissa grinned and giggled, leaning forward to talk to him, for the first time since try outs not following Kiki around.

Kiki was amazed how fast the day went by. One minute she was spending lunch in the music room, staring blankly at the piano, she couldn't play it, the next school was over and it was the weekend. She had taken Ryan's old car, he'd gotten a new one before college, so she could just drive herself home today. She walked out to the parking lot and to the black convertible her brother had loved so much, until he realized whatever car he had would spend most of it's time in a garage. She ran her fingers over the smooth black paint, deciding she was going to call Ryan and ask if she could use his car for the rest of the school year.

"Hey Evans, nice car." Matt, Donny and Jimmie walked over to look at it.

"Not mine." She said, still angry with Jimmie. She stuck the key in the lock, she didn't doubt that Ryan would swing her around by her hair if he found out she was jumping into the car.

"Who's is it?" Matt asked.

"My brother's." She dropped her backpack in the passenger seat and looked at them. "I will run you over." She informed them. They moved out of the way as she backed out of the parking spot and out to the street.

She got home and headed inside, stopping when she saw Her mom and Sharpay and the cook gathered around the island talking excitedly.

"What's up?" Kiki asked, walking over. Sharpay looked up, her eyes sparkling.

"Ryan's coming!" She squealed. Kiki's eyes widened.

"What? When?"

"Tomorrow. They get the week off for one reason or another and he's coming home, we're going to have a big dinner for him." Catherine grinned. If there was one thing the three could agree on, it was Ryan.

"Yes! Now I have a real excuse why I can't go to the party." Kiki nodded.

"What party?" Kiki jumped, looking at the phone in the middle of the island.

"Ryan?"

"Hey Keeks. What party?"

"Umm… a girl at school invited me to a sleepover and I didn't want to go, now I have a real reason not to." She shrugged.

"You should go." Ryan argued.

"I'd rather not." Kiki shook her head.

"Mom told me you took my car to school today." Kiki blinked at the sudden change in conversation.

"Umm… yeah."

"I'll let you have it if you go to the party." Ryan offered.

"I… Ryan, I don't want to go. These girls are strange, not friends, fan girls." She pouted.

"Go to the party and you get the car."

"Ugh fine, but not cool Ryan, not cool." Kiki walked out of the room. Sharpay and Catherine went back to planning the dinner and a few minutes later Kiki stuck her head into the kitchen.

"Umm… Shar… what do I take to a sleep over?"


	10. So This is a Sleepover

This is the last… okay maybe second to last, chapter I'm writing until I actually work out a plan for what's going to happen. So I'm going to work on plotting that tonight and… hopefully not fall asleep at the computer desk. I'm sick right now : P yuck.

It had taken close to an hour to get everything packed that Sharpay decided Kiki would need and finally Kiki was in the Black convertible on her way to Larissa's house. The paper Larissa had shoved in her face had the address on it. She pulled into the driveway as a girl got out of a mini van. The girl, and her mother, gaped at the convertible a moment until Kiki caught them.

"I'm going home." Kiki muttered, turning to put her stuff back in the car.

"Kiki! You came!" Kiki groaned as Larissa came running down. She grabbed the messenger bag from her and looked at the car. "Nice." She smiled, gripping Kiki's wrist and pulling her into the house.

Larissa's house was smaller than the Evan's home, but it was decent sized. Two stories with an attic, where Larissa's room was, but that wasn't where they were going to sleep. Larissa explained that due to space issues they'd be sleeping in the living room, but hanging out in Larissa's room until her parents went out on their date and her brothers went to their friends'.

"Mom! This is Kiki." Larissa said as she pulled Kiki into a kitchen. A plump woman with short brown hair looked at them and smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you Kiki. I'm Larissa's mother Dana."

"Nice to meet you too."

"Surprised to see you here though, from what Larissa said I didn't think you were coming."

"I… changed my mind." Kiki figured saying her brother was bribing her with a car would be a little… bratty. The front door opened and two teenage boys walked in, maybe three years older than Kiki and Larissa.

"Whose car is that out there?" One of them asked.

"What car?" Dana got up and went to the window.

"The black convertible." The other boy asked.

"Oh umm… that's mine." Kiki answered, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Wow, that's… a nice car. A birthday present?" Dana asked.

"No, actually it was my brother's. He got a new one and gave me his old one."

"That's an old one?" the boys asked.

"Luke. Kiki these are my brothers, Luke and Lance."

"Luke, Lance and Larissa…" Kiki blinked.

"Coming from a Kiki I'd say you had no room to talk." Luke nodded.

"Luke!" Larissa exclaimed, waiting for Kiki to explode. Kiki just laughed.

"You're right, so let's go." Kiki looked at Larissa. Larissa grinned and lead Kiki up the stairs. "You know… I can carry my own bag." Kiki told her as they got to the attic.

"No need, we're here." She pushed open the door and Kiki was met with the site of about five girls sitting around giggling.

"Oh sweet Jesus." Kiki muttered, stepping over a backpack.

"Guys, this is Kiki." Larissa introduced.

"Right, you're the basketball chick right?" one girl asked.

"Sure." Kiki went to sit on the bed next to Jessica.

"You look terrified." Jessica commented.

"I am." Kiki jumped when her cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and held it to her ear. "Hello? Hey Ry. Yeah I'm here. Oh it's exciting, though I may change my mind on that car thing. Yeah apparently it's not normal for a teenage girl to have a… oh hahaha you're hilarious. I'm hanging up. See you tomorrow." She pressed the red phone and shoved it in her pocket. The other's had moved on and one girl, Kim something or another, sat at the computer.

"Okay, let's try someone else. Oh! Kiki and…"

"Rocket man!" Larissa piped up. Kiki looked up with a frown.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Do you have a crush on him?" Kim asked. Kiki nearly gagged.

"I'd love to crush him, right under my foot." She glared at Larissa, who grinned.

"James Zara and Kiki Evans." Kim typed away.

"Ooh, too bad Keiko, it says you two aren't compatible."

"Don't call me Keiko, and I could have told you that."

"Wait, James? Does that mean you need full names?" Jessica asked. Kim nodded, quirking an eyebrow. "Kiki's full name is Kiely Killian." Kiki turned her glare to Jessica.

"How do you know that?"

"I work in the office sometimes, I saw your file. Kiely Killian Aleksandra Evans." Jessica recited.

"You scare me… and piss me off." Kiki informed her.

"I'm glad." Jessica grinned. Kiki made a face and Kim squealed.

"You're compatible. According to the site you two are going to start dating and eventually get married." Kiki gawked.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"This site, you put your name in and it uses some number system to decide if you and a guy are compatible. It's math." Another girl, Laurie explained.

"That's stupid." Kiki deadpanned. They all stopped and looked at her.

"What? Kiki, it's math, math is always right."

"First off they don't take into consideration all components of compatibility, your name shouldn't be why you marry someone. That site doesn't know that the very thought of Jimmie Zara makes me want to murder someone." They stared at her a moment.

"Wow, you can suck the fun out of anything." Laurie nodded.

"I'm realistic, sue me." Laurie opened her mouth to say something but Larissa cut her off.

"Okay, no more name games for Kiki, got it. How about…"

"Larissa and Donny." Kiki jumped in. Everyone turned to look at her. She shrugged innocently.

"You're insane." Laurie decided as Kim typed the names.

"Ooh, not so compatible."

As the party went on Larissa's parents ordered Pizza and the girls talked and, quite frankly, it all bored the crap out of Kiki.

"Okay you guys, time to get changed and head downstairs." Larissa announced. The girls all started debating on who would get the bathroom to change first, meanwhile Kiki was pulling her shirt over her head.

"What are you doing?" Laurie asked.

"Changing." Kiki answered, fishing her tank top out of her bag. She pulled it over her head before unhooking her bra. Between sports and having a roommate, and knowing that honestly she didn't have anything the other girls didn't she just didn't care. She pulled the shirt down over her stomach and stood up, pulling the shorts out of her bag.

"Well then…" Larissa shrugged, if Kiki didn't care why should she? She pulled her own shirt off and started to change, it was just like in gym. Eventually all the girls changed and went down to the living room where everything was moved out of the way and they started spreading out their sleeping bags.

"So Kiki." Michelle asked as they settled in. Michelle had arrived at the party about ten minutes after Kiki had. "What was boarding school like?"

"Was it like it is on TV? Parties, sex, drugs and drinking?" Hannah West asked. Kiki just stared at her a moment.

"I went to a school for the gifted that only took people that were serious about getting into the best schools. Our parties were studying in the halls and drinking regular Coke." Kiki answered, pulling her hair up into a ponytail.

"Is that where they taught you to be such a cold hearted bitch?" Laurie asked. Larissa gapped at her.

"Yeah, where did you learn it?" Kiki smiled her sweet little smile and cocked her head to the side.

"Okay now you listen to me,"

"Laurie!" Larissa interrupted. "Just… calm down okay. There's no need to,"

"AHHHHH!" Jessica and Kim screamed, pointing at the windows.

"What?" Hannah asked.

"There's someone out there."

"It's a very populated world, you need to be more specific." Kiki quirked an eyebrow.

"In the bush! We saw someone." Jessica insisted. Larissa got up and went to look.

"I don't see anyone." She said. Kiki jumped when her phone rang. It was the number that called her the day she got cut. She answered it, putting it on speaker; maybe if they spoke the other girls would know the voice.

"Hello?" She asked.

"We can see you in there. You look lovely in those blue shorts." A strange voice said. Hannah and Kim screamed and looked out the window.

"You're funny, why don't you tell me that to my face?" Kiki asked.

"Go to the back door." The voice said, and then hung up. Kiki sighed and walked over to the door. The girls followed about ten feet away. Kiki unlocked it and yanked it open as Larissa came up behind her.

"AHHHHH!!!" a group of people in masks jumped out and pushed into the house. The girls screamed and ran as the people danced in, grabbing at them. Kiki sniffed the air and her eyes narrowed.

"Nasty Magnet crap. Zara!" She slammed the door and everyone turned. The guys pulled their masks off. It was the basketball team.

"How'd you know?"

"Because Jimmie smells like a skunk." Kiki shoved the male and walked past them. "It that your cell phone number?" She asked.

"Maybe." Jimmie smiled. Kiki punched arm and they headed for the livingroom, where the basketball players were setting up Larissa's brothers' Wii.

"You guys, you can't stay." Larissa insisted, looking around.

"Come on Riss. Your parents won't be back until late and it'll be fun." Kiki pouted, climbing over a couch. Larissa looked at Kiki and sighed.

"Fine, but if you break anything,"

"Then it was Jessica." Kiki grinned, grabbing a wii-mote. "Now who wants to get their butts kicked?"

As the night went on the games settled and everyone sort of just sat around hanging out while Laurie and Michelle went to make Hot chocolate for everyone.

"Kiki." The blonde looked up to see Jimmie with two cups of cocoa.

"Hmm?" She asked, He motioned for her to come with him and led her out to the porch, taking a seat on the porch swing. Kiki sat next to him and he swung them back and forth slowly.

"It was crowded in there." He shrugged.

"Hey Rocket man, how'd you get my number?" Kiki asked.

"Your sister. I heard her giving it to Larissa." Jimmie answered, sipping the hot chocolate. It wasn't really all that cold out yet, but it was going to get that way soon. She drew her knees to her chest while he kept rocking them.

"I'm going to murder her." Kiki muttered.

"Hey, at least it was me calling you and hanging up, not some creepy guy."

"Actually,"

"Shut up." Jimmie rolled his eyes and shoved her playfully.

"So, why'd you keep hanging up? To try and scare me?" Kiki asked, pulling a loose string off his jeans.

"Umm… yeah." He nodded. Kiki looked up at him with a frown, but he was looking the other way. She shrugged it off and smiled, looking at the basketball goal surrounded by a small bit of concrete, a makeshift court.

"Let's play." She got up and went to her car, pulling a basketball out of the back seat. She held it up and shook it, grinning. Jimmie smiled and jumped up, putting his cup next to hers on the porch.

"You're going down Evans."

"In your nightmares Zara."


	11. Ryan's Visit

**I've decided Fan fiction is evil. When you upload some words don't make it through and get deleted. There's no other explanation… maybe I'm crazy…**

**Oh and ya'll should check out my website/blog (though I warn you, the blog is where I let the potty mouth run free) The link is/will be in my profile : )**

"Told you." Kiki said the next morning as she brushed her teeth.

"Yeah I know." Larissa rolled her eyes.

"Your parents had no idea." She smiled, spitting her mouthful of toothpaste into the sink.

"We almost got caught. What were you and Jimmie doing out there anyway?" Larissa asked, trying to look as innocent as possible. Kiki looked down at her.

"Playing basketball, duh… ugh I never used that word before I met you."

"Glad I'm such a good influence."

"Good?"

"I'm turning you normal." Larissa insisted. Kiki shook her head.

"I'd rather you didn't." Larissa smiled, hip bumping the other girl. "I gotta go. Ryan's due back any minute."

"See you later Keiko."

"Don't call me Keiko." Kiki ordered as she ran upstairs for her bag then down to her car. She hopped in and hurried back home, barely paying attention to the rules of the road as she went. When she got home she hurried to the kitchen where her mother and Sharpay were watching the cook work.

"Kiki! You're not ready?" Catherine asked. Kiki looked down. Clean jeans, sure they had holes in them, but all her jeans had those, a wildcat tee shirt.

"Yeah I am." She nodded. Catherine gave Sharpay a frustrated look.

"Come on Keeks." Sharpay took her sister by the shoulders and led her upstairs. She forced her sister to change into a simple, summery red dress with spaghetti straps. They left her hair down and she managed to talk Sharpay into a pair of Converse.

The sister ran back down the stairs in time to hear the door open and Ryan's voice call out,

"Anyone home?" They ran though the halls to the door and launched themselves at him.

"Ryan!" They squealed, for the first time acting somewhat alike. Ryan grinned and hugged his sister back, for a while.

"Guys… I… can't… breathe…" He said, coughing. They let him go and moved just as Catherine came rushing through the hall to her only son.

"Oh Ducky, daddy says he's sorry, but he's going to be a little late. Had some last minute work to take care of at the office."

"It's fine mom, gives me some time to catch up with you three." Ryan and their dad had the same relationship as Kiki and Catherine. They love each other; they just really didn't know how to act with each other. Ryan wasn't the sport-obsessed jock their dad had been expecting, but he loved his son anyway.

"So, let's hear about how fantastic school is Shar." Ryan led the three into the family room to talk about everything. Kiki sat on a crème colored chair and drew her knees to her chest, watching her brother, sister and mom talk. Sharpay was going on and on about Zeke and her classes and helped Ms. Darbus with the play this year and how fun that was going to be.

"Kiki?" Kiki looked up to find them staring at her.

"Huh?" She asked.

"I ask you how basketball was going." Ryan smiled.

"Oh, pretty good. We've had a few issues with teams not wanting to play a girl but… we took care of that." She showed him the still bright red, nasty floor burn on her leg.

"They did that to you?" Ryan asked, angry.

"No… rocket man did…" Kiki shook her head, looking at the burn thoughtfully. It was a bit brighter now that she thought about it.

"Wait? Rocket Man? As in… Jimmie Zara? Isn't he on your team?"

"Yeah, that's how we got the other team to stop whining about breaking me. Matt and Rocket Man were all to happy to beat the crap out of me to make it happen too." Kiki rolled her eyes. Ryan frowned, but sat back. Kiki yipped as her cell phone vibrated and she grabbed it off the table, smiling.

'Hey, pizza after game wit guys u in.' It was from Jimmie. Kiki gently bit her lip and texted back.

'Yeah. Sounds good.'

'Even on text u got good gramer' Kiki laughed and sat the phone over on the table. She looked up to find her family staring at her again.

"Who was that?" Sharpay asked, smiling.

"Why?" Kiki frowned.

"Because you just giggled." Ryan grinned, leaning forward.

"I did not. Oh, mom After the game I'm going out for pizza with the guys." She smoothed her dress and glared at her siblings. "What?"

"It was Jimmie." They said in unison.

"So what?" She crossed her arms over her chest. They started humming the Kissing in a Tree song. "Shut up." She snapped.

"Or what?" Sharpay asked.

"I'll kill you both." Kiki stuck her tongue out. They went back to humming and she jumped up, chasing the twins through the house while Catherine just laughed, happy to see her kids so happy.

That evening after dinner Kiki went up to her room, laying out on the bed, Paper Towns in front of her. She was just finishing the book when the door opened.

"Hey Keeks." Ryan smiled, walking over and plopping on the bed.

"Hey Ry. What's up?" She asked, closing the book.

"Just wanted to see what you were up to. Did you have fun at the party last night?"

"Eh, it was okay. Got better when the team showed up."

"The team?"

"Yeah…" Kiki explained to him about the call and the masks and playing basketball with Jimmie. Ryan smiled at her. "What?" She asked, once again.

"Nothing Keeks." He shook his head, getting up and kissing her on the head. "Can't wait to see your game though." He added.

"You're going?" Kiki asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, I'm going to be here, might as well see the best Basketball player I know kick some butt." He grinned, laughing. Kiki laughed and got up, going to her phone as it vibrated.

"Then my winning basket will be for you." She joked. Ryan laughed again and got up.

"I'm gonna hit the sack, I'm pretty tired. I'll see you in the morning Keeks." He turned and headed out of the room.

"Night Ry."

"Night Keeks."


	12. The Second Game

Okay so… yeah I'm pretty bored actually. Nothing to do. I should be doing dishes actually. I already blogged, updated my Fan fiction Profile and my Freewebs site… so now the only procrastination tool I have left is this : ) So… Yay! And… I did the dishes…

Oh and to DivaDaddyGoGirl, I know I have an issue with grammar and stuff. But now I do have the check and it tells me and I'm completely convinced messes with the upload. Maybe I'm paranoid.

PS I'm plugging again! Check out my site and my blog and leave comments. Comments and reviews make me smile and feel all fuzzy inside.

It was getting kind of hopeless. They had one quarter left and were down by quite a bit.

"Okay, so it's looking pretty sad… but we can do this. Come on guys." Jimmie was trying to get them worked up. It wasn't really working. It was a home game, so all their friends and family were watching and they were failing miserably. Much like the other team, the Archer High Basketball team was afraid to touch Kiki, and this time the wild cats didn't correct them.

"Let's just get out there and do out best." Jack sighed, leading them back out. The crowd cheered hopefully, but most knew it wasn't going to help. Kiki took her place, her distractions were getting better and better.

"Damn! Dropped my contact." The guy looked down and Kiki jumped, getting the ball. When she came back down the guy glared at her. He was tired of the distractions. He just… couldn't help but look. He ran after the ball and waited until She got it. As soon as the ball was in her hands he fouled her, knocking her halfway across the court in the process.

"Holy… Kiki are you okay?" Jimmie ran over.

"Ow…" Kiki muttered, laying her head back on the floor. Jack ran over as Ryan and Sharpay stood up.

"You okay Evans?" Jack asked, kneeling down next to her.

"Ugh… yeah… anyone seen my tailbone though? I think it flew out of my mouth when I hit the ground…" They all chuckled humorlessly and Jack held out a hand to help her up. As soon as she put weight on her knee she nearly collapsed, crying out. Jimmie caught her and helped hold her up as Larissa came to the other side.

"What's wrong?" Larissa asked, looking her up and down.

"Her knee, she must have twisted it." Jimmie said.

"I'm fine." Kiki insisted.

"You can't stand up on your own." Jack argued.

"I'm fine, watch." She shook Jimmie and Larissa away and put weight on her bad leg. It hurt, it hurt worse than anything she'd felt in a long time. The pain was so bad she was tempted to rip her own leg off and beat herself with it just to stop feeling the pain, but she wasn't going to let them know that. She bit down on her inside of her cheek and managed to walk to the sideline, where she got a drink and walked back. "I'm fine." She repeated.

"Okay…" Jack said doubtfully.

"Take your shots." The ref said, and everyone went back to where they belonged. Kiki bit down hard on her lip as she jump shot the first one, missing it. She got the ball for the second one and made it, following everyone as they ran off, her run marred by a distinct limp.

The wildcats lost. It was inevitable. Kiki ended up skipping out on Pizza, opting for a quick trip to the hospital instead. With the game over she could safely reveal that her leg was killing her.

Kiki was at the doctor, having her knee wrapped when Superbus' Jenn Je T'aime filled the room. She pulled the phone out of her pocket and made a face.

"Hey Rocket man." She sighed.

"Hey Liar."

"I have no problem hanging up on you."

"The guys and I are in the waiting room. Hurry up, we're hungry."

"I told you to go without me." Kiki sighed, looking at Ryan and Sharpay, who shrugged.

"There you go. Just take this to a pharmacy to fill and you'll be fine in a few days." The doctor handed her a prescription and a set of crutches.

"Thank you. I'll be out in a second." She added into the phone, hanging up. "I guess I'm going for Pizza." She said.

"I'll go pick up the pills and see you at home." Ryan offered, taking the slip of paper and he and Sharpay walked out. Kiki said a quick goodbye to the doctor and swung her way into the hallway Larissa and Donny appeared to walk with her.

"This worries me." Kiki said as they walked down the hall. Larissa explained how coming to the hospital had been Jimmie's idea, but they all agreed to it right away. She also said that they, they being herself, Donny and Kiki, were going to be riding with Jimmie.

"On the upside, you get shot gun." Larissa said brightly.

"Can I get a shotgun?" Kiki asked. Her knee still hurt, and while it wasn't as bad she had planned on going home and reading.

"Nope. You killing yourself would kind of put a damper on the night." Larissa chirped as they got to the waiting room and the Wildcats were all sitting around in a thumb wresting tournament.

"Hang on, Matt and McCall are in the final round." Jimmie waved them off. They watched as McCall beat Matt and finally they headed out to the cars. Jimmie's piece of junk was the closest, which was the reason they decided to have her go with them. Though Kiki suspected it was because Donny and Larissa liked each other and Larissa still wasn't quite over the Fan girl thing.

Sitting in a car while Jimmie was driving was like sitting in a car while a monkey was driving, but a little more dangerous. They got to the Pizza place and Jimmie jumped out to help Kiki get up. Getting her crutches out was a bit more of a feat but they managed it. They were the last to arrive and they guys had already ordered.

"Hey!" The team called as they walked in. The lady behind the counter glared at them like she'd love nothing more than to murder them all. Apparently some people didn't like large groups of teenagers loitering in their establishment.

"So, we decided that, since Little Princess is rich, she gets to pay for the pies." Matt nodded.

"Snowball's chance in hell." Kiki said, sitting down and propping her leg up on another chair.

"Miss, could you not put your feet on the chairs?" a snotty waiter asked, looking at her like she was stupid and a waste of skin.

"I have to keep it elevated. Either it goes on a chair or I'll gladly shove it up your-"

"Excuse her, she's on pain meds. twisted her knee playing basketball." Larissa interrupted. As they waiter stalked off angrily Larissa gave Kiki a look. "You have to work on that rude thing."

"What rude thing?" Kiki asked.

"That 'I'm Kiki Evans, I'll do what I want and if you question me I'll verbally murder you' thing." Larissa replied. The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

"How is putting my foot on a chair hurting anyone?"

"That's not the point,"

"Ooh guys, we came just in time for the cat fight." They looked up into the faces of the North West basketball team.

"Ew thought I smelled something." Mat pinched his nose and waved his hand in front of his face. The Wildcats laughed while the Hornets (The North West team) glared at them. Their Captain, Scott Manning, slammed his hand down on the table.

"That's hilarious Ross, but remind me, who just lost their game? Oh you guys, and uh, who won? That's right! Us." He smirked and Kiki quirked an eyebrow.

"Didn't you guys play Sumner? We beat them too." Jimmie had Kiki's crutch in his hand, he had been playing with it, now he was sort of leaning on it.

"Get used to the crutch Zara, you're going to need them when we're done with you. If you ladies ever want to hang with some real men,"

"Please, my pinkie's got more testosterone than you bunch of lumps." Kiki interrupted.

"Excuse me?"

"I think she just called you a bunch of sissies." Larissa nodded.

"Just be lucky you're girls."

"I'd say it's pretty lucky yeah, but I'm on the basketball team Skippy." Kiki smiled. Apparently these guys didn't watch the news.

"You're what?" Scott asked, looking to one of his teammates, who shrugged.

"Yep." Kiki reached for a slice of pizza, taking a big bite.

"So you guys need a girl to make your team any good?" Tommy Ruiz jumped in.

"Just wait until you see her play." Jimmie smirked.

"Oh all they'll be seeing is my dust." Kiki nodded. Jimmie held out the crutch.

"You guys are going to need it more than she does." He said. Scott knocked the crutch to the ground angrily and the Hornets left, leaving a metaphorical puff of steam behind them.

"See, my 'I'm Kiki Evans, I'll do what I want and if you question me I'll verbally murder you' thing does work out sometimes." Kiki smiled at Larissa, who rolled her eyes.

"We'll work more on that later."


	13. Scary Things

This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful I-pod Fiyero Rose. Who came back from the dead today to make this an awesome day : ) Yes, I did name my I-pod and I named it after a Wicked Character. Those of you that don't like it can redirect all complaints to my phone Draco or my Camera Jasper. Where Rocket Man you ask? Well he comes in the form of my Nintendo DS.

It was amazing really, to sit and watch her sister as she sang various Broadway tunes. It was incredible how She could switch from one character to another. It didn't even take a moment of thought; she just sort of melted into it. Kiki watched from the couch with her mom and dad, clapping as each song ended. They sang songs from Wicked, Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, She Loves Me, Spring Awakening and more. This had been one of the Evans family's favorite activities before Kiki had gone to school.

After about two hours of songs Kiki excused herself and went up to her room. She plopped down on her bed and dug out her book. Ryan had finally convinced her to read Wicked by Gregory Maguire. She lay on her stomach and crossed her ankles in the air, reading the green-paged book. She read about three chapters before she got a call, reaching into her pocket she pulled out the phone not even having to glance at the screen.

"Hey Rocket man." She said. The week before Jimmie had programmed in his own ring tone. He decided 'Jenn Je T'aime' was too girly for his tastes. He replaced it with a Fall Out Boy song that Kiki hadn't heard of until he'd put it on her phone.

"Hey LP." He greeted. The team had shorted Little Princess to LP.

"What's up?" She asked, turning a page in the book.

"Just wondering if you wanted to come over. My parents are out and Donny was suppose to come, alone, but now he's bringing Larissa and I don't want to deal with those two alone." He explained. Kiki thought about it a minute.

"Sure." She shrugged. She didn't have anything else to do tonight.

"Awesome, bring your favorite scary movie and some popcorn and anything else you want to bring." Jimmie said. Kiki hung up and turned onto her back with a groan.

"I'm getting too old for this." She muttered, getting up and going to her movie shelf. It was the only shelf in the room that wasn't filled with books. She picked the only scary movie on the shelf, Dead Silence. Ryan had borrowed Stay Alive and she'd yet to get it back. She grabbed her body pillow and a green fleece blanket as well, heading downstairs.

"Kiki what are you doing?" Catherine asked as Kiki came out of the garage, having put the pillow and blanket in her car.

"I'm going to Jimmie's. Larissa and Donny are going and we're going to watch Scary movies."

"You and that Jimmie guy are getting pretty close huh?" Catherine asked, leaning forward.

"Who?" Vance Evans looked up from his paper.

"Jimmie Zara AKA Rocket Man. He's on Kiki's basketball team." Sharpay answered, her pink painted fingernails swiftly moving over the keyboard of her pink laptop, finishing up an essay she had been meaning to work on.

"And they've been spending a lot of time together." Catherine added, sipping her diet coke.

"Because we're friends." Kiki rolled her eyes, climbing up on the counter to reach the popcorn.

"Good, I don't like this Zara Fellow." Vance said gruffly. Kiki whipped her head around and nearly fell off the counter.

"Shi- why not? You've never even met him."

"Oh he's not going to like any guy who has his eye on little Kiely." Sharpay rolled her eyes, still typing.

"Bite me Fido." Kiki growled. Sharpay looked up, glaring at her sister and her use of the hated childhood nickname. Kiki hopped down from the counter, popcorn in hand.

"Make sure you put the top up though, the weather man says it's supposed to storm." Catherine advised. Kiki's hand paused on the doorknob.

"Storm?" She asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Yeah. Good thing too, my flowers were starting to look a little dry. Have fun sweetheart." Kiki nodded stiffly and went back into the garage, tossing the popcorn in the back with the other things and put the top up on the car before opening the garage door and backing out.

She got to Jimmie's house in about ten minutes and quickly hopped out, it was already starting to rain. She knocked on the door and about ten seconds later it was wrenched open by none other than Rocket Man himself.

"Hey LP." He grinned as she walked in. "Nice… pajamas?" Kiki smiled, looking down at her tank top and pajama pants.

"Yep. I figure as long as I'm bringing this stuff I should be comfy." She shrugged, following him as he led her to where they'd be watching the movies.

"Larissa and Donny aren't here yet." He said, sitting on the couch. "And you make a good point, I'll be back." He got back up and hurried off. Kiki dropped her stuff and decided to look at the pictures around the room. One of Jimmie at about three years old, sitting on a little white stool in front of a blue background. There were a few school photos as well as a camp photo and his Basketball photos from the past two years.

"What do you think?"

"I think you were a cute kid. Something must have gone terribly, terribly wrong." Kiki turned around smiling cheekily.

"You're hilarious." Jimmie rolled his eyes. He had changed into a wife beater and blue flannel pajama pants.

"I know." Kiki stuck her tongue out. Jimmie narrowed his eyes and dove for her. Kiki dodged at just the right time, running around to the other side of the couch. Jimmie scrambled up and stared, faking left then jumping right. She tried to run, but quite frankly Jimmie was faster than her. He caught her around the waist as she tried to get out the door and pulled her back in, tickling her side.

"Ha! Now who's hilarious?"

"Stop! Ah! Okay, you win. You're hilarious." Kiki screeched, trying to get away from him. His sat down on her stomach straddling her and still tickling.

"And who's still cute?"

"No! Quit it! Jimmie!" Kiki laughed, rolling around.

"Who's still cute?" He repeated.

"Okay! Okay! You are." She gave in; tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm what?" he asked. Neither heard the door open.

"You're cute! Now get off." He stopped when they heard a loud 'Ahem' from the door. They both looked up at Donny and Larissa, who had weird looks on their faces. Jimmie got up and held out and hand to help Kiki, who wiped her cheeks and fixed her tank top, which had ridden up while he tickled her.

"Should we like, give you two a minute?" Larissa asked. Kiki glared at her.

"Shut up." She turned and headed for the couch. Larissa grabbed the popcorn and Kiki's hand.

"We're going to go make popcorn." She smiled, dragging Kiki away.

"Ow, you're going to rip my arm out of the socket." Kiki complained as they got to the kitchen.

"So what was that?" Larissa asked, ignoring Kiki's comment.

"What?"

"You two, on the floor?"

"You mean him assaulting me? Yeah that was great." Kiki rolled her eyes. Larissa got out a thing of popcorn and put it in the microwave.

"Whatever, you looked like you were enjoying it." Kiki glared at her.

"Shut up. I did not."

"Okay." Larissa said in a singsong voice. Kiki narrowed her eyes and looked around for a bowl for the popcorn. She found a big blue one and the girls made about three bags of popcorn to fill it. When they last bag was done they went back to the TV room where Donny and Jimmie were setting everything up. Kiki grabbed her pillow and blanket, stealing a corner of the couch. Jimmie sat next to her while Donny and Larissa took the love seat.

"What are we watching first?" Kiki asked, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"The ring." Jimmie answered, tossing a piece of popcorn in the air and catching it in his mouth.

They were about halfway through the movie when the thunder started. It was soft as first, barely noticeable, but when the lightning joined in it got louder. Finally, just as they were going in the well and the hand grabbed Naomi Watt's arm there was a loud crash of thunder and a bolt of lightning that made Kiki jump and she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.

"Relax LP, it's just a movie." Jimmie laughed. Kiki nodded.

"Right." She looked back at the screen. Okay, coming here was a bad idea. No one knew about her fear of thunderstorms, not even her family. It was a recent development, after a tornado threatened her boarding school and… it was just terrifying, totally justifiable. She just didn't want people to know it. They finished the movie and had just put in Larissa's movie, The Others, when a crash of thunder, louder than ever filled the sky and the power went out. Kiki couldn't stop herself from screaming this time.

"Larissa?" Donny asked in alarm.

"Wasn't me." Larissa said. After a moment Jimmie looked to the side.

"Kiki?" All he got in reply was a small whimper. He reached over and touched her leg. She was shaking. "Keeks are you okay?" He asked.

"Fine." She squeaked.

"I'm going to get flashlights." Jimmie said, getting up.

"I'll come with you." Donny deciding, standing and tripping over the table. "Ow." He muttered.

"You okay man?" Jimmie asked.

"Yeah I'm good." Donny waited for a flash of lightning before moving around the table. After they left Larissa moved to the couch, next to Kiki.

"I didn't know you were afraid of storms." She said gently.

"I'm not." Kiki argued.

"Kiki."

"I'm not."

"Kiki."

"Okay maybe a little. Before I left school there was a tornado and… it's a little traumatizing. I know the chances of a tornado in New Mexico are slim, but still…"

"It's fine Kiki. You don't have to explain. I'm afraid of horses. No reason, they just scare the crap out of me." Larissa shrugged.

"I'm afraid of cornfields. Ever seen Children of the Corn?" They looked up to see Donny. He held a flashlight.

"Spiders. I don't do spiders." Jimmie appeared and walked in. Larissa went back to the loveseat and Jimmie took the spot on the couch. "So, movie's over. Now what?"

"Once Upon a Time…" Larissa started telling a ghost story and after a while Donny and Jimmie turned the flashlights off. Once they were off, Kiki readjusted, resting her head on Jimmie's shoulder. Jimmie wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they got comfy, listening to Larissa's retelling of The Others.


	14. Burger! The musical

**Okay so… I wasn't sure about this chapter when I first starting thinking about the story. I didn't know how I'd be at it. You'll see what I'm talking about later… So… I'm a little nervous, but we'll see. I think I can do it now…**

Time was ticking. The crowd was cheering. Kiki could see the clock quickly running down.

"Go!" She shouted to Jimmie, who, while he wasn't really suppose to, turned and ran. The Wildcats kept people out of his way as he ran to the end of court. He nearly tripped on the way over but quickly recovered and went for the jump shot. It was as if everything had switched to slow motion. The ball arched through the air and swirled the rim before falling in a nano second before the buzzer sounded.

"Yes!" Jack shouted as they team ran over to congratulate Jimmie. He just took the game from a tie to a win.

"Burgers on Zara!" Matt yelled as they headed to the locker room. The team cheered in agreement, going to their locker rooms. Kiki headed for the girl's locker room, stopping when she saw a few of the boys from the Hornets' team.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"You made a miraculous recovery." Scott sneered.

"Huh? Oh, my knee. It was just twisted… and it was almost three weeks ago." Kiki rolled her eyes.

"Little brat, bet you think you're untouchable out on the court." Scott stepped in her way.

"Nope, on the court I'm just one of the guys. Now move." She toughly shoved him out of the way and slipped into the locker room. She quickly changed out of her basketball uniform into a tee shirt and a pair of jeans, torn as usual. She toyed with a rip in the knee for a moment before dragging a brush through her hair and re-tying her ponytail. She looked in the mirror, changing her mind and letting the blonde locks free, framing her face. She shook her hair back and headed out of the room, meeting the guys and Larissa out in the parking lot.

"I'm riding with Evans!" Matt called. They all jumped at the chance to ride with the top down.

"No dice. Mavolio is sitting in the cold heartless garage next to my dad's work. His car wouldn't start so he took mine." She rolled her eyes.

"Mavolio?" Donny asked.

"Yeah, as in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night." Kiki nodded.

"LP, you are a total nerd." McCall decided.

"Then I'm riding with McCall." Matt declared. Everyone spread out, Kiki getting in the car with Larissa, Donny and Jimmie.

Mackey Burgers had recently become a favorite of the Wildcats, seeing as it was one of the few places in town that welcomed the large, loud group of teenagers. They would take business in any way they could.

"Hey guys." Mackey greeted them as they walked in. They all said various hellos and started moving tables around.

"I'm having a La Vie Boheme moment." Larissa commented. Kiki and Jimmie laughed while the others looked kind of confused.

"It's from a movie… Rent… they go to a coffee shop and… you know what? Never mind." Kiki shook her head. It was too hard to try and explain. Mackey knew what do to when the kids were there. He turned up the music as a few more people came in, wanting to hang out with the team and offer congratulations and everything. The Basketball team was the center of attention as they ordered their burgers and whatnot. Kiki picked the menu back up and looked at it.

"Seems a downright shame." She sang gently.

"Shame." Jimmie grinned. They had seen Sweeney Todd the week before and both had fallen in love with it.

"Seems a awful waste. Such a nice plump frame whatshisname has, had, has, and it can't be traced." Kiki stood up, looking thoughtful.

"Debts to be erased...  
Think of it as thrift,  
as a gift,  
If you get my drift!" She placed her fingers on Jimmie's shoulders and he looked up, confused.

"Seems an awful waste...  
I mean, with the price of meat  
what it is,  
when you get it,  
if you get it..." She snuck a look over at Jimmie.

"Hah…" He nodded.

"Good, you got it!" She smiled. The others watched, amused with it all.

"Take, for instance, Mrs. Mooney and her pie shop!  
Bus' ness never better using only pussycats and toast!  
And a pussy's good for maybe six or seven at the most!  
And I'm sure they can't compare as far as taste!" She sat down next to him for only a second, getting up as he did.

"Mrs. Lovett, what a charming notion" Jimmie sang with a nod.

"Well, it does seem a waste..." He started walking around and she followed, looking pleased with herself.

"Eminently practical  
and yet appropriate as always!" He sang

"It's an idea..." She joined.

"Mrs. Lovett, how I've lived  
without you all these years, I'll never know!  
How delectable!  
Also undetectable!" he wrapped his arms around her.

"Think about it!  
Lots of other gentlemen'll  
soon be comin' for a shave,  
Won't they?  
Think of  
All them  
Pies!" She sang at the same time, putting her arms up as if to waltz.

"For what's the sound of the world out there?" Jimmie didn't know how to waltz so they just kind of spun.

"What, Mr. Todd?  
What, Mr. Todd?  
What is that sound?" She grinned, holding back a laugh

"Those crunching noises pervading the air!" Jimmie asked, really getting into it.

"Yes, Mr. Todd!  
Yes, Mr. Todd!  
Yes, all around!" Kiki sang excitedly.

"It's man devouring man, my dear!"

"And who are we to deny it in here?"(1) They kept going through the song and by the end everyone was clapping for them. They sat down to eat their burgers and debate the great debate. Unicorns Vs Zombies. (2)

"Hey guys. I have to get going." Kiki stood up.

"Hang on, I'll drive you." Jimmie offered.

"Naw. I want to walk, I'm just going down to the bookstore then I'm going to have Sharpay pick me up."

"Okay see you tomorrow Keeks." Jimmie said, getting comfortable again. They all said their goodbyes and she headed out. She had walked a few stores down before she noticed the car. It was moving slowly, right next to her. The windows were tinted so she couldn't see who it was. She walked a little faster and the car moved a little faster.

"Okay, back to Mackey's." She muttered, turning around. Before she could get anywhere the door opened and Tommy Ruiz jumped out. He grabbed her and shoved her in the alley. The car turned into the same alley and Scott and another guy got out. Kiki nearly fell to the concrete when Tommy gave her a little shove, but caught her balance.

"What do you want?" She snapped, rubbing her arm where Tommy had grabbed it.

"We know how you work." Scott said, crossing his arms.

"Really and How's that?" Kiki asked.

"You don't play fair, you're a cheating bitch (3)."

"I'm what?" Kiki gaped at him.

"You don't get the ball by being better you cheat."

"I use my brain. Something most of you don't have enough of to stop taking the bait." Kiki snapped, going to push past them. Tommy shoved her back, his beady eyes narrow.

"You said you play like one of the guys." Scott said with a grin. "Just one of the guys. That's what she said, right Omar?" The other guy nodded.

"Yep, that's what she said."

"Good, Just one of the guys." Scott repeated, before balling his fist and swinging at her.

In a perfect world Kiki would have dodged the punch and taken the three goons out, but it wasn't a perfect world. Kiki was 5 foot 5 inches and weight a buck oh five soaking wet. Never mind that she never had to actually fight before. These guys had, on average, thirty pounds and five inches on her.

Scott punched her square in the stomach and she knelt over, coughing. Tommy gripped her by the hair and shoved her roughly against the wall before pulling her back and shoving her to the ground. Omar delivered a swift kick to her stomach. Scott stood over her, smiling sadistically.

"Hope you're okay for the Game." He said, kicking her roughly in the stomach again and Tommy picked her up again, gripping her in a headlock. She had a scrape on the side of her face from the wall and her lip was bleeding.

"Didn't mean to damage your pretty face." He said sarcastically before shoving her to the ground again.

"Come on guys." Omar urged and they ran for Scott's car driving off. Kiki went back to coughing, tears streaming down her cheeks. She coughed into her arm, wincing, as each cough sent pain through her ribs. After a moment she managed to pick herself up and walk through the pain.

(1) Oh and I'll explain the song now… I needed filler, I've watched Sweeney Todd three times today and this will be relevant in the future I promise. I didn't do the whole song cause… it would have taken too long.

(2) For those that don't know, Zombies Vs. Unicorns is a big nerdy thing. Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier are big into it… I've been reading Scott Westerfeld's blog for the past week. He's married to Justine… I'm a dork. That's all that needs to be said

(3) I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

So, how'd I do on the 'Kiki gets the crap beat out of her' scene?


	15. Let's Go Party

**Okay, so I have a reason why I haven't posted in a week. My computer was lost to a terrible virus. I just now got it back... ten minutes ago. I had written this at school and sent it to myaelf the day they let us on freewebs... but yeah, now it's back and I can go back to posting on a regular basis! yay!**

**oh, and some of you may have only read the first version of chapter 14, go back, read the end, if you read about converse clad feet, go back. I liked it, but it didn't work. So I changed it and didn't get a chance to say anything before the computer kicked it sorry. **

**One last thing. For my freewebs site I need your help. Either tell me (in a review) your favorite quote from the story or, if I'm being waaaay to full of myself and nothing in the story is quote worthy, a quote from anything that reminds you of the story. Please, Please, Please, Please, Please!!! I love you all!!!**

After a while Kiki managed to pick herself up and made it to the bookstore where Sharpay was supposed to meet her. She ducked her head down to avoid stares and slipped into the restroom, locking the door behind her.

She limped to the mirror and looked at herself. She had a scrape on the side of her face, going from just above her eyebrow to her cheek bone. She got a paper towel and carefully wet it, pressing it to the scrape. She also had a bloody nose and a split lip. She moved the paper towel to clean that up and threw the towel in the trash. Now came the painful… well more painful part. She lifted up her shirt wincing as she rotated her shoulders to pull it over her head. Decorating the pale skin of her torso were the beginnings of many, many, dark painful, bruises. She touched one on her side and winced, sucking in a quick breath.

"Ow." She muttered, pulling her shirt back over her head. It hurt more putting it back on than it did taking it off. She finished cleaning her visible wounds and walked out of the bathroom, hiding until she heard the familiar… Sharpay sounds, High heels, cell phone beeping, her nailing typing on the tiny keypad of her cell phone. She cleared her throat and tried to arrange her hair so the scrape didn't look as bad.

"Hurry up Kiki I have… oh my god." Sharpay looked up and saw her sister's lip, and nose, and the scrape. She walked over and carefully touched the red, raw skin next to her eye.

"It's nothing." Kiki rolled her eyes.

"It's not nothing, what happened?" Sharpay asked.

"I tripped… we were messing around I didn't see the curb. It was just me being stupid." Kiki shrugged, pushing past Sharpay to the car. Sharpay followed, frowning. Kiki wasn't a klutz… though it did make sense that she'd be this upset over tripping, especially in front of other people. Sharpay shrugged it off and got in the car, driving her sister home and watching as Kiki told the same story to their parents.

The next morning Kiki groaned as she sat up, it hurt to move, but she couldn't say anything. She bit her lip and stood up, taking off her pajama top and went to find another, loose fitting, top. She slipped into her sweat pants, wincing as she bent to pull them up. She didn't bother to brush her hair; the idea of reaching up made her entire body, bruised and un-bruised, shake in pain. She just hoped it didn't look as horrible as she thought and headed out the door before anyone could say anything to her.

The scrape was scabbing over, she noted, and it was disgusting. The drive to school she couldn't stop looking at the maroon squiggles on the side of her face. When she got to school she grabbed her hoodie off the seat next to her, hissing in pain as she slipped it over her shoulders and threw the hood over her head. She just needed to get through the day without too many problems.

First she needed to get her books though. She got to her locker, squeaking as she reached to turn the lock.

"Hey Keiko!" Larissa chirped, popping up out of seemingly nowhere. Kiki jumped making a small noise. "Wow… sorry didn't mean to scare you."

"You… You didn't scare me. Don't call me Keiko." Kiki cleared her throat again and fixed her hood, looking away, but it was too late.

"Holy cow, what happened to you?" Larissa asked, grabbing Kiki's arm and turning her. She took in the lip and the scrape, you couldn't tell she'd had a bloody nose, luckily they didn't break it.

"Nothing, just me being klutzy. I was playing basketball and tripped." She shrugged, pulling her arm out of Larissa's grasp.

"Kiki, you can't do that to your lip by tripping." Larissa argued. Kiki just kept walking, ignoring her friend. As soon as she got into the classroom she went to her seat, laying her head down on the cool desktop. It felt good. Today was not going to work, Kiki was tempted to call her mother and beg her to call her out of school.

"Kiki?" She didn't need to look up, she recognized the voice.

"What Rocket man?" She asked, closing her eyes.

"Larissa told me I needed to look at your face." He said, confused.

"Larissa's on drugs." Kiki didn't move.

"Are you okay? You sick or something?" Kiki opened her mouth to correct his sentence, but she didn't even know where to begin.

"Yes. I'm sick, horribly, horribly sick." Kiki decided. "And I'm going to call my mother to call me out so I can go home." She went to pull her phone out of her bag, which was a mistake, she ended up turning her head and he saw the scrape.

"Wow, what happened to you?" Jimmie asked. Kiki didn't look at him as she quickly texted her mom to call her out of class.

"Nothing, I just fell while playing basketball last night." Kiki lied. Her mom texted back saying she called so Kiki stood up and pulled her bag over her shoulder, not thinking about it. The bag banged against her side and she cried out, gaining the attention of everyone in the class.

"Kiki…" Jimmie reached out, lifting her shirt just enough that he could see the bruises. "This happen from basketball too?" He asked angrily.

"Yes." Kiki lied, slapping his hands away and getting back up.

"Don't lie to me." Jimmie followed her out of the room, ignoring Darbus.

"I tripped, it hurt, I moved on." She shrugged, not stopping. She pushed open the front doors, glancing back, frowning when Jimmie followed. " You don't have permission to leave." She commented.

"I don't care, I want to know what happened to you." Jimmie kept walking, getting in the car with her.

"Jimmie! Please just… don't." She looked at him desperately.

"Sorry Keeks, you're my team mate, I don't let things drop when it involves my team mates." Jimmie shrugged. Kiki started driving, she didn't say a word and neither did he. They just sat in silence for a while. Eventually Kiki parked in a parking lot for the old Bowling Alley that had gone bankrupt and no one had wanted to buy.

"Yesterday, on the way to the bookstore… I was jumped." Kiki said, not looking at him, just looking straight ahead.

"You were what?"

"I was jumped. They cornered me, beat me up and ran off. There, that's what happened, you can't tell anyone."

"Who did it?" Jimmie asked, outraged.

"I'm not telling." Kiki shook her head.

"Why the hell not? Kiki if they jumped you… there are punishments."

"Because I don't want to cause a scene, if I go to someone about this then there will be court hearings and all that crap and then, maybe they'll make a rule saying girls can't play on guys teams and I'll be the one that ruined it for everyone." Kiki looked at him. "I can't do it. Besides it doesn't hurt that bad."

"Kiki… you need to go to the doctor, they might have really hurt you." Jimmie sighed, she wasn't going to tell. Kiki nodded.

"I know. I'm going to." She bit her lip. "I hate doctors." She said in a small voice. Jimmie smiled.

"You'll get use to them. On our team you will get hurt." Kiki rolled her eyes.

"Jimmie, you're stupid." She turned the key and went back to driving.

"Kiki… you're getting me in trouble."


	16. Wildcats vs Hornets

Kiki had dropped Jimmie back off at school and gone home, asking her mom to take her to the hospital. Her parents had been furious that she had lied about how bad the injuries were, and even angrier when she refused to say who jumped her. They tried everything to get her to talk, and none of it worked. She stayed silent about it, even when the doctors asked.

Kiki didn't wait to go back to school; she was there the next morning, walking like an old lady, the bandages around her torso constricting her breathing. Not that she minded, breathing hurt as much as anything else did. She ignored Larissa's questions, and the teams' questions; they would all get their answer at practice. She went tot eh locker room and with Larissa's help got changed into her tank top and shorts. Getting changed as agony, but it was necessary to her. She walked out to the gym where everyone was waiting.

"So LP, What's the verdict?" Jack asked, though he knew the answer.

"I have two hairline fractures on my ribs. I'll be fine, but I can't play this week, or next week, but I'll be here every night and at the games." Kiki nodded, she hated this more than any of it, the pain she could live with, her parents constantly bugging her to drop a few names, she could ignore, but not being able to play was like chopping off her legs and leaving her in a frozen tundra. She went to sit down with Larissa and they watched as the team started practice, the next game was against the Hornets and there was no way they could let themselves lose.

The week passed by pretty quick and by the end of it Kiki was feeling better, but not great. It still hurt, but she didn't feel like ripping off her own arms and beating herself with them when she changed. She also didn't need Larissa's help so she was alone in the locker room as she pulled her tee shirt over her head. She was still bandaged, and much to her dismay, you could tell when she wore her uniform. The wraps peeked about an inch and a half over the armholes. Normally Kiki wore a tight tank top to cover it, but that top was too tight for her to wear. She changed into her shorts and headed out to the boy's locker room, waiting outside with Larissa.

"Honestly they complain about girls taking too long to change." Larissa commented. Kiki smiled. It always took the guys forever to get changed. They heard a small commotion and knew the Hornets were here and they were ready to play. They were always ready to play. They may have been jerks, and incredibly stupid, but they could play some serious basketball, they were one of the three top teams, right up there with West High and East High.

"Any day now guys." Kiki called banging on the door. A minute later it opened and McCall stuck his head out.

"You can come in." He said. The girls had to wait for the okay before they could go, incase there were a few slow changers. They headed in and Jack gave the pep talk before sending them all out to the court. They guys jumped around and riled up the crowd, well, all the guys but Jimmie, who help Kiki to her seat and then he went to rile the crowd. Kiki looked up at the Hornets, three of whom were staring at her looking very satisfied. She made a rude hand gesture and they went back to practicing.

The game started, without Kiki to do her 'distract then jump' thing they had to rearrange it so McCall, who was one of the taller guys was in her place, now having to rely on physical ability. It was pretty impossible to tell who would win, whenever one team scored the other would get it a few minutes later.

"Move Matt, he's too good to be blocking that guy, put him on Ruiz, move Donny to Cox." Kiki suggested. She and Larissa were making notes of things to change for the second Quarter. Larissa had been studying up and now she was pretty good at the assistant coaching thing, she'd even come up with a few of their better plays. Kiki helped her out, but no one needed to know that.

"Okay, and we should move Jimmie over to Manning. Honestly I think Kirby's a little intimidated by him." They looked over. Bryce Kirby was a tall, but really skinny and nerdy guy who, while good at basketball, was terrified by some of the bigger guys. Scott wasn't big, but he was scary looking. Kiki nodded in agreement as the ref blew the whistle, the quarter was over. The teams ran to their respective sidelines to get instructions.

"Okay guys, this is the deal." Jack went on to tell them the changes he and the girls had made and after a quick 'Game on' cheer they all ran out there. It was still a tied game and it was driving everyone up the wall. Larissa was chewing her nails to the nubs while Kiki sat on the edge of her chair, completely focused on the game.

Jimmie moved in front of Scott and got ready.

"I'm actually a little surprised Zara." Scott smirked.

"At what?" Jimmie frowned

"That you didn't come running to avenge your little girl friend."

"Wait, what?" Jimmie thought about it a moment. "You 're the one that…"

"Fine handy work I must say. Got her out of the game." The smirk widened. Before Jimmie could stop himself he connected a right hook with Scott's cheek. The taller boy went down and Jimmie attacked. He had never been in a fight, but you wouldn't know it from the way he was wailing on Scott. It was a few minutes before they managed to detangle the two and Jimmie was sent out of the game, to sit on the sidelines.

Kiki got the first aid kit and went to sit with him.

"That's who you were protecting?" He roared. People were staring.

"Yep." Kiki got out an antiseptic wipe to clean the gash on in right ring finger.

"Why?"

"So you wouldn't do something stupid like this and get yourself kicked out of the game, giving them exactly what they wanted." Kiki hissed. The game resumed, Kiki finished treating Jimmie's wounds and they turned to watch the game. With their two best players out of commission the guy had to work just that much harder. Every time they got the ball it was a mad dash. Finally it was the last quarter, the last minute, and it was all tied up.

"Come on McCall!" They all cheered as Kyle McCall went running he passed the ball to Donny, who was not the greatest at making the actual baskets. Donny froze for a moment before coming back to life, jumping and everyone held their breath as the ball swished through the net.

"Yes!" Jimmie jumped up on the chairs and threw his hands in the air. Larissa ran out and hugged Donny while everyone surrounded him to congratulate the boy.


	17. The Wrap Up

**Important stuff:**

**1 This is the last chapter. Look for the next one Bass Ackwards soon.**

**2 A banner for Downside Up can be found on my website, the link is in my profile**

**3 Also I put up in Interview my sister did with me for Downside Up, check it out if you're bored.**

**4 HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!**

**Mucho Love, Alessi aka XHey Pretty BabyX**

In celebration Jack invited everyone over to his place for a bar-b-que, the team, their families, spectators, anyone that wanted to come. Normally he saved the big party for the end of the year, but considering, he figured it was okay to do two of them, especially since a friend of his had started, and failed, in the meat business and gave Jack and his wife more meat than any two humans would be able to eat in three years. They all headed to Jack's and he got the grill going while everyone else got ready to party.

"So." Donny found Larissa on the swing with Kiki. "What's up?" Larissa grinned at him.

"Nothing, just… hanging out." She turned and gave Kiki a look.

"Huh? Oh right umm… what's that? Be right there!" She jumped up and hurried off.

"So…" Donny trailed off.

"So?" Larissa leaned forward in anticipation and nearly fell off the swing. Donny laughed, sitting down in the other swing.

"Umm… I was thinking, maybe like… in the near future you and I could go for ice cream or something." He suggested Larissa lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Yeah I like ice cream." She nodded, and then pressed a hand to her forehead. "And I'm not normally this dorky." She added.

"Naw, I like the dorky bit, it's cute." Unbeknownst to both of them they were being watched, in the tree house sat Kiki and Jimmie watching them.

"Dude, that was cheesey." Jimmie said loud enough that the two below could hear.

"Totally, I'd be better off with a primetime soap opera." Kiki agreed. Larissa and Donny looked up, making face. Kiki and Jimmie laughed, standing up.

"Saw that one coming."

"From a mile away." Kiki nodded. Jimmie walked to the captain's wheel, giving it a little spin.

"So, wanna go get a burger?" He asked, looking back at her.

"Last one there has to get a veggie burger." She challenged.

"You're on."


End file.
